Shame of Scot held after child pornography raid

The stash of pictures, stored on floppy discs and CDs, was found in the Aberdeen home of Anthony Nicolson.

Officers from Grampian Police had visited his house in the city’s Lintmill Terrace after being tipped off by their colleagues in the Metropolitan Police Force.

Thousands of pornographic images depicting sex abuse and child rape were found during raids at addresses throughout the UK at the culmination of the two year long operation, Janitress.

Nicolson, from Aberdeen, was one of 13 people arrested by police on 17 January, 2001, and Grampian Police was the only Scottish force involved in the operation.

The 47-year-old sat with his head bowed at Aberdeen Sheriff Court as depute fiscal Adrian Cottam told how police had seized his computer, monitor, a CD rewriter and a total of 72 floppy discs.

He said that Nicolson, who had co-operated with police and admitted downloading the material, had had a total of 864 indecent images.

Nicolson had earlier admitted making indecent photographs and pseudo-photographs of children between May 1, 1997 and 28 December, 2000.

Sentence had been deferred until yesterday for reports.

Mr Cottam said the pictures had all been of naked or partially undressed children engaged in sexual activity with other children or adults.

Sheriff Annella Cowan rejected the suggestion from Nicolson’s lawyer Mike Monro that there had been no victims because his client had not taken the original pictures.

"He down-loaded that which had previously existed. He is totally ashamed of what he has done. He did nothing by way of distribution. The saving of the pseudo photographs was entirely for his own use and gratification," said Mr Monro. "No-one who shared his accommodation had opportunity to view the images saved on discs or CDs."

He said the fact his client had admitted his guilt from the beginning had saved a jury the stress of having to view in excess of 800 images "which at the best could be described as distasteful and at the worst as totally repugnant".

Sheriff Cowan said: "The victims of this sort of crime are remote in time and place from the ultimate consumer - that’s you - but that does not mean that these crimes have no victims."

She told Nicolson that reports showed he needed help and put him on probation for three years and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of community service.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register.

Almost 30 computers along with thousands of photographs, videos and magazines with images of sex abuse and child rape were recovered from addresses across Britain after a series of raids at homes across the UK, including Nicolson’s.

The early morning raid at his home was carried out as part of a groundbreaking operation by the Metropolitan Police Force Paedophile Unit.

The operation was one of the largest of its kind ever to take place in the UK and several of the people detained by police were charged as a result of the raids, New Scotland Yard confirmed yesterday.

DCI Bob McLaughlan, of the MPS, said: "The operation was the result of an intelligence-led investigation targeted at stemming the distribution of child pornography on the internet.

"Images like these are evidence of the sexual assault and rape of children.

"Anyone who downloads or distributes them perpetrates the cycle of abuse."

He added: "We know that the internet is increasingly used as a conduit for the exchange of pornographic pictures of children.

"These people think that they can hide behind the internet but we are getting better at pursuing them with their own technology."