More than 1,300 child porn images found on Hawick horse-trainer's computer

Andrew Bell had his name placed on the sex offenders’ register at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday and will face further sanctions next month.

The 42-year-old, a self-employed horse-trainer and dog-walker, pleaded guilty to the offence, carried out at his Ruberslaw Road home in Hawick between May 2014 and July 29 last year. The court heard that 157 images were in the most serious category A involving penetrative sex.

One moving image featured a woman engaging in a sex act with an animal.

Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser said officers discovered 116 category B images depicting non-penetrative sexual activity and 1,054 indecent images in the lesser category C.

The total number of indecent images found on Bell’s computer was 1,327, the court heard.

Mr Fraser explained that the police received information that someone at that address had been accessing indecent images from the internet, and the property was then searched under warrant by officers on Friday, July 31, last year.

Bell admitted he had typed ‘pre-teen’ into his computer’s search engine on occasion when accessing pornographic images but insisted that most of the time it was ‘teen’ he searched for.

Mr Fraser said: “He told police this happened often at night after drinking or smoking cannabis when his judgement was not at its best.”

Sheriff Peter Paterson deferred sentencing until Monday, June 13, and in the meantime he ordered that Bell’s name be placed on the sex offenders’ register.