GREENOCK SEX OFFENDER ADMITS HAVING WORST LEVEL OF CHILD ABUSE ON MOBILE PHONE
A SEX offender has pleaded guilty to having readily accessible videos of the worst level of child abuse on his mobile phone.David Paterson had a total of nine indecent videos and 78 still images on the device when police carried out an early morning raid at his home.
Paterson, 29, had also been charged with distributing or showing an indecent image but his not guilty plea to this allegation was accepted by prosecutors.
The sheriff court heard how cybercrime officers with a search warrant swooped on a property, near the town centre, at 8.05am on October 2 in 2019.
Fiscal depute Mark Nicol said: "Nine devices were recovered and forensic analysts conducted preview searches.
"One of the devices contained indecent images of children — a black Samsung smartphone.
The accused was arrested and taken to Greenock police office where he was cautioned and charged and made no reply.
Of the 78 still images found on Paterson's phone, 22 of were category A material, 33 category B and 23 category C.
There four were category A videos and five category B.
Defence lawyer Paul Keenan told the court that there would a 'substantial' plea in mitigation on behalf of his client when the case calls again for sentencing, adding that the circumstances of it were 'extremely distressing'.
Mr Keenan said: "This will become apparent when the [pre-sentencing background] report is prepared." Sheriff Andrew McIntyre deferred sentence on Paterson for a criminal justice social work report until May 26.
The sheriff immediately placed him on the Sex Offenders Register, with the length of his inclusion to be determined at sentencing.
