A north-east man admitted downloading more than 2,000 indecent pictures and videos of children – to prevent his partner being landed with the blame.
Christopher Noble appeared in Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday and admitted being in possession of, and distributing, the images of children as young as six months between April and July last year.
The 31-year-old denied a further charge relating to the possession of indecent images of animals over a one-year period, which was accepted by the Crown.
The court heard police had received a tip from the National Online Child Abuse Agency about an IP address from Noble’s home being used to upload images.
Prosecutor fiscal Stephanie Ross told the court: “At 3pm on July 31, 2015 officers were granted a warrant to search the premise and entry to the property was afforded by the accused’s partner.
“They observed a laptop switched on the sofa and on the screen there was a live web chat discussing the sharing of young children.
“His partner was checking the search history when the police arrived.
“She was then detained and a search of the premises was carried out and the laptop and computer were seized along with a USB, Samsung mobile and other electronic items.”
She said Noble, of 111 Glenbervie Road, Aberdeen, was then traced and detained.
Initially, he gave no response when he was interviewed but when he arrived back at his cell he wanted to discuss the allegations again as it was “not fair” his partner was in custody.
Ms Ross added: “He was interviewed again and he indicated that they were images he had previously downloaded from the internet and not photos he had taken himself.
“They released the girlfriend.”
She was also interviewed and denied having knowledge what was on the computer, and that when the police arrived she had simply been checking the internet history.
Police recovered a total of 4,224 photos and 11 videos on all the devices, which contained indecent images of boys and girls aged between six months and 13 years.
The court heard images and videos found on the computer featured children “posed erotically and engaged in sexual activity”.
Representing Noble, solicitor Les Green asked for background reports.
Deferring his sentence, Sheriff William Summers warned Noble the charges were of a “serious nature” and that a “custodial sentence” was likely. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register in the meantime.
