Child porn stash found on Nairn man's phone
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
BACKGROUND reports have been called for in the case of a man who was found in possession of almost 300 indecent photographs and videos of children.
Ross Nicholson (22) admitted being in possession of the images between May 2018 and January of this year.
At Inverness Sheriff Court Sheriff Robert Macdonald heard from depute fiscal Susan Love that on January 18 police received intelligence that indecent images of children had been uploaded to an online chat platform.
The internet address from where the images had been uploaded was located to a router in Blairfield Road, Nairn.
A report was subsequently sent to the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit in Inverness and a search warrant was granted to police for the relevant property in that street, Nicholson’s home address.
The warrant was acted upon at 7.30am on January 31.
The fiscal said that, at the time officers arrived, there were four individuals in the property including Nicholson.
As they were carrying out a search Nicholson told two police officers: “It’s the computer that you’re looking for – what you were talking about earlier.”
He then added: “I wasn’t looking for it but I saw it.
“There’s nothing on it now as I don’t use it.”
Later, having been taken to Burnett Road police station in Inverness, he admitted that he had used the site where the images – which also included a video of a woman involved in a sexual act with an animal – were found.
The fiscal added: “He denied he gained any sexual gratification from them.”
She told the court that Nicholson had refused to provide police officers with login details for both his computer and a phone, both of which were password protected.
He also refused to tell officers exactly what the images depicted or how old the children featured in them were.
Items seized by the police included the computer, phone and USB sticks.
They were sent for forensic examination, revealing a total of 176 images and 121 videos of an indecent nature involving children as young as eight years old.
Sentence was deferred for reports until December 5 after the hearing last week.
Nicholson was permitted to remain on bail.
He was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register meantime.
