Edinburgh paedophile caught with hundreds of of sickening child abuse images

Kenneth Reid, 59, was caught with hundreds of indecent images of children with some of the depraved stash including “new-born infants” being sexually abused.

Reid was also caught with movies that were described as involving “discernible pain and stress” to the young victims.

He was said to have shared some of his horrifying collection with fellow perverts by distributing them through a WhatsApp messaging account.

Police discovered the sickening hoard of images and movies after raiding Reid’s Edinburgh home in August this year.

He pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing indecent images of children when he appeared via video link from Saughton Prison at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Prosecutor Clare Kennedy told the court police raided Reid’s home at Larbourfield on August 28 this year after receiving intelligence about images being downloaded at the address.

Ms Kennedy said “a number of devices were recovered and were subsequently examined” and cyber-crime officers discovered a total of 787 still images and 114 movies.

The fiscal added hundreds of the images and films were rated as Category A - the most depraved end of the spectrum.

Ms Kennedy said: “The age ranges of the children involved in the images ranged from new-born infants to 14-year-old children.

“There is noted in the report that there is discernible pain and stress suffered by the children in the images and the videos.

“As regards distribution, the images were distributed through WhatsApp. [There were] a total of 22 image files and 33 video files.”

Solicitor Rebecca Weissgerber, defending, said her client had previously served a custodial sentence for “a directly analogous offence” in 2010.

She added that Reid had completed a course with the Stop It Now organisation at the time, but “unfortunately this has happened again and he accepts a custodial sentence is inevitable”.

Sheriff Douglas Keir remanded Reid in custody and deferred sentence for the preparation of social work reports, a psychological assessment and a supervised release order assessment to later this month.

Reid was also placed on the Sex Offender’ Register for a term still to be determined.

He pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children between January 1, 2015 and August 28 this year at his home at Larbourfield, Edinburgh.

He also admitted distributing images to others between September 29 and November 26 last year.

A not guilty plea to possessing extreme pornographic images depicting adults performing sex acts with animals was accepted by the Crown.

Reid was also caged for 12 months and supervised for three years following his release after he admitted possessing indecent images of children during an appearance at Livingston Sheriff Court in 2010.

The court was told Reid had downloaded almost 900 images to his computer and had also shared some of the images - which included girls aged between six months and 15 years - with fellow perverts.

He was snared as part of a police operation called Operation Amethyst and after officers had recovered information from online paedophile discussions and chat room logs.

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