A Fife paedophile has admitted sending vile racist abuse to international footballer Yannick Bolasie on social media.
Kirk Thompson, 22, admitted sending the word “n****r” to the then-Everton winger via private message on Instagram.
Democratic Republic of the Congo star Mr Bolasie screenshotted the abuse and shared it on his Twitter account in March 10, garnering widespread attention.
35,000 followers “liked” 32-year-old Mr Bolasie’s tweet condemning the vile message.
Mr Bolasie, who now plies his trade for Turkish Super Lig side Çaykur Rizespor, labelled Thompson a “keyboard warrior”.
Tweeting an emoji of a rat, the DR Congo star added: “Something seriously wrong with people…Keyboard warriors.
“Still yet to meet a person who had this energy when they saw me.”
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, Thompson pled guilty to sending the bigoted message on March 9.
The court heard Thompson’s father had been made aware of the message, which was circulating social media and contacted police.
Sheriff Alastair Brown branded the abuse “offensive and reprehensible.”
He said: “What we’re dealing with is a thoroughly reprehensible message.
“I have to get a report.”
The sheriff asked the Crown Office to contact Mr Bolasie to ask why he decided to repost the message.
“I’d like to get information to why it was that Bolasie chose to share it more widely.
“That’s not a criticism of Mr Bolasie.
“It might be to take a stand.”
Mr Bolasie later tweeted “This works better when everyone comes together.. make the world a better place and safer place for our children” and linked his comment to report on Thompson’s conviction.
This works when everyone comes together…make the world a better place and safer place for our children 😷 https://t.co/yv1lsoy1QG
— Yannick Bolasie (@YannickBolasie) November 16, 2021
Child abuse images found
Police who were investigating suspicions Thompson was possessing child abuse images found the message on his phone.
It had been sent the day before the raid on his home at Ravens Craig, Kirkcaldy.
They also discovered vile child abuse material, which Thompson admitted having.
On the morning of March 10, a trio of detective constables from the police’s Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation team arrived at the home Thompson shared with his mother.
Officers arrived with a search warrant and in an interview, Thompson told them he did not access child abuse images.
Fiscal Depute Ron Hay said: “At 8.10am, a short interview was conducted under caution.”
He handed over his mobile phone and password but officers found another device under his pillow.
On the device, officers found a Category C image of a posing naked girl, believed to be aged between eight and 10, with overlaid text.
The image had been stored on the device since December 11 and was in the iPhone’s photo library.
Sex Offenders Register
Officers then logged into Thompson’s online storage cloud with login details which were common across his devices.
On the digital drive, they found a pair of category A videos and another two category B videos, as well as a copy of the previously discovered image.
These horrific files depicted abuse of more young girls.
Detectives also found messages showing Thompson’s “fascination” for child abuse files.
Thompson admitted possessing and making child abuse images.
His defence solicitor Christine Hagan said: “His mental health has suffered.”
Sheriff Brown deferred sentencing on all offences until January 6 for reports and released Thompson on bail.
The sheriff asked to find out the runtime of the video files recovered in preparation of the sentencing date.
He also placed Thompson on the Sex Offenders Register.
