A married dad who masqueraded as a young girl in seedy online chatrooms could face jail after being caught with indecent images of children.
Until police officers arrived with a search warrant at his home, Neil Abel’s family had no knowledge of his second life as “TeenClaire”.
Intelligence led the police cybercrime unit to his door on November 11, 2016, after it emerged an IP address there was being used to upload indecent images.
Abel, 56, told the officers he knew why they were there and that he knew of the existence of illicit pictures, stressing he was the sole user of the computers in the house.
Investigations subsequently revealed he had viewed pornography sites through which he’d accessed images of children as young as 10.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard he had also received images of children as young as 14 from people in an online chatroom on which he posed as a teenage girl.
Abel admitted making indecent photos of children at his home on various occasions between April 11, 2013 and October 9, 2016.
The court heard 100 images in total had been found on laptop and desktop computers.
Abel, of Tornasheen Gardens, Dyce, told the court he had taken steps to deal with his problem.
Sheriff William Summers said: “These are serious offences and I must consider whether a custodial sentence is appropriate.”
He deferred sentence until March 26.
Abel has been placed on the sex offenders register.