Ex-serviceman claims 4,000 indecent child images are ‘art’

A FORMER serviceman caught with over 4,000 indecent images of young girls tried to claim the snaps were pieces of art, a court has heard.

Peter Clifford, 32, told stunned cops that he didn’t think the images, which were downloaded from the Internet, were obscene.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court today heard how Clifford, of Dunbar, East Lothian, was snared after Lothian and Borders Police received intelligence from specialist anti-child porn investigators.

Clifford - who was forced out of the RAF after being convicted for the same offence in 2003 - had his house searched and was quizzed by officers.

When Clifford was interviewed at a police station, he asked stunned detectives what their definition of obscene photos were. He then tried to claim the images he had were artistic photographs.

Clifford pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing 4,488 indecent images of children aged between 10 to 15 years old between September 7, 2010, and May 2011, before Sheriff Paul Arthurson.

Sheriff Arthurson deferred sentence in order for the court to obtain reports.

Depute procurator fiscal Dev Kapadia told the court that local policemen swooped on Clifford after receiving intelligence about his activities on the world wide web.