A 24-year-old man caught with a sickening collection of child pornography claimed he had an addiction.
Police confiscated two lap tops and other computer equipment from Martin Nicholson’s home in Staffin, Skye, in March last year and found graphic images and videos and young boys and girls, some as young as five.
The images showed them engaged in sexual activity.
Nicholson sat with his head bowed in the dock of Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday as fiscal Roderick Urquhart told Sheriff Margaret Neilson the sordid details of his collection of over 40 videos and a dozen still images.
Nicholson, who has now moved to 97 Alton Place, Culloden admitted making the images and possessing them on his computers between October, 2012 and March, 2015. He also pleaded guilty to distributing or showing them to others between the same dates.
Mr Urquhart said: “In February, 2015, police got a tip off from the Child Abuse Helpline that indecent images of children had been accessed from a certain address.
“On March 26, police obtained a warrant and seized computer equipment. He admitted then that there may be indecent images.
“Initially a few videos and images were found and he told officers he did not know who had sent them to him. He was interviewed by police and he said he had become depressed and physically sick viewing them and felt it was an addiction.
“He said at no time did he gain sexual gratification from viewing them. Subsequent examination of two computers revealed 63 videos and two dozen still images, some mostly involved young boys as young as nine and others were of young girls as young as five engaged in sexual activity.
“Videos found on the second computer involved young boys and girls.”
Mr Urquhart said that the communication software, Skype, had been used to send and receive the material.
“There was also evidence of him trading the images and that he had distributed a total of 13 videos.”
Sentence was deferred until March 18 for a background report on Nicholson who was immediately placed on the sex offender’s register.
His lawyer Hamish Melrose reserved his comments until then.