An Aberdeen pensioner has been placed on the sex offenders’ register after he admitted sharing dozens of child porn images with a man he met online.
Seventy-two-year-old Lawrence Jones used his mobile phone to send the indecent films and pictures to the stranger in England.
He was only caught when police south of the border began to investigate the other man.
Yesterday Jones appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted distributing the pornographic images from his home at 111 Hamilton Place in the west end of the city over a three-day period last year.
The court heard Jones, now of 6 Stevenson Court, Aberdeen, had also been charged with being in possession of indecent pictures and videos over the course of a year however his not guilty plea was accepted.
Fiscal depute David Bernard told the court Jones claimed he met the man he was sending the images to on a mobile chat room.
When officers examined his phone they found a total of 68 pictures and videos had been sent from the device between May 4 and 7.
Mr Bernard said 10 of the videos were classed as being level five – the highest end of the scale – and four at level four. Seventeen of the still images were also classed as level four.
The fiscal depute said some featured children as young as two.
The court heard Jones accepted he sent the footage from his phone to a man in England – but claimed he had received it from him initially and was simply just sending it back.
Sheriff William Summers deferred sentence for background reports, but placed Jones on the sex offenders’ register immediately.
He told him: “You have pleaded guilty to an offence which has a significant sexual element to it. From now on you will be subject to the notification requirements. What that means is within three days you must register your name and address with Police Scotland and you will have to tell the police about any changes you make to your address.
“Failure to do so is in itself a very serious offence.”
Lawrence will return to court next month to be sentenced.