Ex serviceman caught with child porn claims it was ‘art’

A FORMER serviceman caught with more than 4000 indecent images of young girls tried to claim the photographs were pieces of art, a court has heard.

Peter Clifford, 32, told stunned cops he did not think the images, which were downloaded from the Internet, were obscene.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday heard how Clifford, of Dunbar, East Lothian, was snared after Lothian and Borders Police received intelligence from specialist anti-child porn investigators about his activities on the internet.

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.

Clifford pleaded guilty before Sheriff Paul Arthurson to one charge of possessing 4488 indecent images of children aged between 10 and 15 years old between September 7, 2010, and May 2011.

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