A CREEP was caught with more than 1,750 sick photos and videos of children as young as four being abused when police searched his home in Ayr.

Kieran Brown hid the images across various digital devices at his address in Churchill Towers on South Harbour Street.

The 24-year-old pleaded guilty at Ayr Sheriff Court to charges of possessing, and making copies of, the indecent images over a period of 18 months.

The court heard officers recovered '28 hours' of vile video footage, including children aged four to 16 being abused.

The haul included more than 400 videos classed by police as being at ‘category A’ level – the most serious type.

Brown, who amassed the disgusting images between September 2021 and February 2023, was added to the sex offenders register ahead of sentencing, when he appeared in Ayr Sheriff Court last week [Wednesday, July 17].

A not guilty plea to a further charge of possessing extreme pornography was accepted by prosecutors

The procurator fiscal depute said: "The accused appeared on an undertaking [to attend court] on March 13, 2023. He entered no plea and continued for further examination. Bail was granted with special conditions.

"An investigation indentified access to indecent images of children at the address of the accused. A search warrant was granted and on February 16 police attended the locus and his brother attended at the door.

"The accused was traced in the bedroom and police carried out a search. 

"Various electronic devices were seized: two mobiles, a laptop, a Kindle, a computer tower and a hard drive.

"A cyber crime examination revealed indecent images were confirmed to be present on the Kindle and laptop.

"The accused was arrested and conveyed to Ayr police office. He made no comment during interview and was released on an undertaking.

"A total of 1,757 moving and still images were recovered from the devices. 

"In the hard drive none of the images were readily accessible to users and were deleted previously prior to being examined. 

"In total 429 accessible still images, 573 accessible moving images, 621 inaccessible still images, 134 inaccessible moving images were found. The total run time was around 28 hours.

"In relation to categories, in category A there were 43 accessible images and 183 inaccessible, along with 407 accessible videos and 80 inaccessible.

"In category B there were 39 accessible images and 96 inaccessible; 75 accessible videos and 20 inaccessible.

"In category C police found 347 accessible images and 243 inaccessible, along with 91 accessible videos and 34 inaccessible.

"The material in each category included children aged four to 16 being sexually exploited. 

"The Kick Messenger personal online chat app allows a high level of anonymity in chat conversations, and file sharing was found on the Kindle.

"The accused was signed in and images had been received. There were no signs of images being shared by the accused.”

The fiscal said a variety of apps had been used by Brown to attempt to clean up his devices but that police had still found “relevant material” during their search.

The prosecutor asked for a ‘sexual harm prevention order’ to be imposed on Brown.

Defence solicitor Gillian Swanney told Sheriff Desmond Leslie: "Notwithstanding the serious nature of the offending I would ask your Lordship to continue bail."

Sentence was deferred for a background social work report and a risk assessment and for further consideration of the Crown’s request for additional restrictions.

Brown was put on the sex offenders register for an as-yet-undetermined period, with the length of time he will remain on the register to be decided when he is sentenced.

Sheriff Leslie granted the defence’s request for Brown to be released on bail; he will return to court for sentencing at a later date.