A pornography-obsessed man, found with indecent images of children on a computer at his Galashiels home, has been warned he could face custody.
Jason Thomson, 40, appeared on indictment at Selkirk Sheriff Court, pictured, on Tuesday and admitted possession of indecent images of children at his then home at Woodstock Avenue between September 11, 2012, and July 1, 2013.
Thomson, now of St Andrew Street, Galashiels, also pleaded guilty to taking or permitting indecent images of children to be taken.
Searches for Lolita, child porno and PTHC (pre-teen hard core) were found on his laptop, and further examination revealed 164 indecent images and 28 movie clips.
Prosecutor Tessa Bradley told how Thomson had been living at Woodstock Avenue with his partner at the time of the offences, adding: “Police received intelligence that the internet had been used to access indecent images of children.”
Following enquiries, police turned up at the address with a search warrant. A laptop, iPad and external hardrive were recovered and examined. During police interview, Thomson confirmed he used the laptop, which he had purchased new some six years earlier.
“He gave a largely ‘no-comment’ interview,” continued Ms Bradley, “although said he was not attracted to children and did not use chatrooms. He couldn’t offer an explanation for the images.”
A further forensic examination revealed 101 images at level one, showing young girls naked or partially-clothed, posing erotically; six images at level two; 36 at level three; 20 at level four; and one image at level five – sadism or penetration.
There was one movie at level one; 10 at level three; and 17 at level four.
Solicitor Ross Dow said his client was at a loss to explain the offences, adding: “He describes an addiction to pornography. He says he was accessing regular pornography, and things progressed from there.”
Mr Dow said Thomson had been suspended from work and currently lived alone.
Sheriff Peter Paterson warned him: “These are extremely serious matters and uppermost in the court’s mind will be a custodial sentence.”
He deferred sentence until August 25 for reports and placed Thomson – who is on bail with conditions not to access the internet or have any unsupervised contact with anyone under 16 – on the Sex Offenders Register.