A soldier was caught with hundreds of indecent images of children when cops raided his Ministry of Defence accommodation.
James Milton had hundreds of indecent still photographs and almost an hour of video footage when his Kinloss accommodation was raided in September 2020, Inverness Sheriff Court heard.
Two of the still images and all of the video footage was category A – a category reserved for the most obscene material.
The vast majority of the images were deemed category C – the least serious.
Milton, 33, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court where he pled guilty to a single charge of possessing indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children.
Fiscal depute Martina Eastwood told the court that the images were found following a police search of the Ministry of Defence property Milton resided in.
Home searched while soldier was away
Ms Eastwood explained that Milton was away on the day the search warrant was executed and it was his wife that answered the door to officers.
“The warrant was explained to her and she detailed that the accused was currently stationed elsewhere,” she said.
The court heard that 17 devices were seized during the search, four of which were retained for inquiries, including a hard drive with the registered owner ‘James’.
Soldier gave ‘no comment’ interview
Following the search, Milton was brought back from his posting.
“The Army arranged his return to Kinloss Barracks,” Ms Eastwood said.
Milton was cautioned and arrested and gave police a ‘no comment’ interview.
He was later cautioned and charged with possessing the 369 images, of which 127 were accessible, and the two accessible videos.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson deferred sentencing for reports and told Milton, of Burnside, Kinloss: “You will be subject to the notification requirements of what is commonly called the sex offenders register with immediate effect.”
The ultimate length of registration will be determined at sentencing.
