Rapist caught with dozens of sick child abuse images

A CONVICTED rapist was caught by police storing dozens of sickening child abuse photographs on his computer, a court has heard.

Pervert William Sinclair, 53, was snared by officers who were concerned that he was getting ready to sexually assault a child.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday heard how police searched his house in the city’s Hailesland Park in June 2011 and found the images on a laptop.

They had gone there after obtaining a court order which allowed officers to monitor Sinclair, who was jailed for five years in 1991 for raping a little girl.

Cops were concerned that Sinclair was getting ready to commit another sexual assault – and wanted to keep a constant eye on his activities.

But once they got there, they found 42 images of children between the ages of 18 months to 15-years-old being abused on his home computer.

Appearing before Sheriff Alistair Noble, Sinclair, a prisoner of HMP Saughton, pleaded guilty to a June 2011 charge of possessing indecent photographs of children at the house where he was staying.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing an extreme pornographic image.

Depute procurator fiscal Dev Kapadia told the court how Sinclair was the subject of a court order in early 2011 which allowed police to monitor the repeat sex offender.

Officers had acted on intelligence that he was spending a lot of his time around children and they wanted to ensure that he didn’t commit any more crimes.

On June 1, 2011, detectives went to Sinclair’s house to carry out a routine check of how he was spending his days.

They found that he had been using his computer to look at sickening images on the internet.

Mr Kapadia told the court: “The officers attended the house unannounced to carry out one of their usual visits.

“They noticed a laptop which was lying switched on in full view on a coffee table. The accused was agitated, sweating and pale – officers noticed that his eyes kept focusing on the laptop, which was switched on at the mains.

“With the accused’s full permission, the officers examined the laptop using a software tool.

“It was later taken away to the computer unit at Lothian and Borders Police, who carried out a full examination of the contents of the machine.

“They found 42 indecent images of children. The children are thought to be aged between 18 months to 15 years of age.

“The accused admitted to police that he had accessed the images from the internet and he told officers about the websites that he had been visiting.”

Sheriff Noble deferred sentence on Sinclair in order for the court to obtain reports until March 6, 2012.