East Lothian crime: Tranent man caught with haul of child abuse images involving kids aged just eight years old

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

Luby, 59, had been storing hundreds of the child abuse 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 female engaged in sexual activity with a dog was accepted by the Crown.

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

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

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.

They fiscal said the children involved were aged between eight and 12-years-old and showed “penetrative sexual activity with children and adult men”.

Ms Dickson said 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 among the sick collection was 118 images and 20 videos rated as Category A - which are considered to be the most depraved.

Lawyer Jonathan Campbell, defending, said 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 Luby’s name will also be forwarded to Scottish Ministers for inclusion of 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.