AN EAST Lothian man has been caught with child abuse images involving children as young as eight.

James Luby was found to be in possession of the collection of pictures and videos of youngsters being abused by adults when police raided his home last year.

Luby, 58, had been storing hundreds of the images – some at the worst end of the spectrum – on his mobile phone over a two-month period in 2019.

Luby appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday, where he pleaded guilty to two offences of possessing child abuse images at his home between January and March 2019.

A not guilty plea to a third charge of possessing an extreme pornographic image featuring a woman engaged in sexual activity with a dog was accepted by the Crown.

Fiscal depute Susan Dickson told the court that police officers arrived at Luby’s home at Blawearie Road in Tranent with a search warrant and were greeted at the front door by his elderly mother on March 18 last year.

The woman told officers that she did not own or use any electronic devices and Luby soon admitted he owned a laptop and a mobile phone.

282 child abuse images

Officers conducted a cursory search of the handset and discovered three Category A and two Category B movies “depicting male and female children” hidden in the mobile’s trash folder.

The fiscal said that the children involved were aged between eight and 12 and the movies showed “penetrative sexual activity with children and adult men”.

Ms Dickson said that a further examination of the device uncovered a total of 282 child abuse images, along with 73 movies showing the sexual abuse of children.

The fiscal told the court that among the collection were 118 images and 20 videos rated as Category A – the most serious.

Luby's lawyer Jonathan Campbell said that he would reserve all his mitigation to the sentencing hearing.

Sheriff Chris Dickson placed Luby on the sex offenders' register for a term still to be decided and deferred full sentence to next month.

The sheriff added that Luby’s name would also be forwarded to Scottish Ministers for inclusion on those banned from working with children or vulnerable adults in the future.

Luby pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children at his home address between January 22 and March 18, 2019.

He also admitted to an offence of taking, or allowing to be taken, indecent images of children between the same dates.