A man who downloaded graphic images of children being abused told police he was “physically sick” after viewing them.
Andrew Mackay also told officers who raided his home: “It was my morbid curiosity that made me do it.”
The 35-year-old appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday and admitted two charges of possessing pornographic images and videos involving children, adults and animals.
Sentence was deferred until April 17 for reports and he was placed on the sex offenders register.
Fiscal depute Karen Smith told the court that police had received information that the internet provider address linked to Mackay and his address at 14 MacLennan Crescent, Inverness, had been used to access indecent images of children.
She added: “A search warrant was obtained and two laptops were seized.
“Upon analysis, both contained illegal material.
“One laptop contained 57 thumbnail images which had been deleted and five videos, all created between August, 2012 and April 2014.
“On the second laptop, 414 thumbnails and nine video fragments were found.
“In total, there were 471 images and 14 videos, all created between August 2012 and April 2014. Sharing software was also found on his computer.”
Of the images, 142 pictures and seven videos were regarded as the two most graphic kind.
When officers searched his home, he admitted that he had indecent images, saying: “I have looked at the images and they made me physically sick.”
He added that some of the videos he had downloaded but had not viewed and his partner was unaware of the password to his computer.