A Montrose paedophile downloaded more than 4,000 indecent files, including sick footage featuring animals.
Andrew Lapidus appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court and was placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
The court heard police carried out an early morning raid on his home.
The 37-year-old told them they what they were looking for was on a hard drive on his bed.
However, analysis of more devices uncovered thousands of filthy images and videos, some involving girls as young as four.
Unemployed Lapidus was released on bail for reports to be prepared and will be sentenced next month.
Warrant
Fiscal depute Lynne Mannion told the court officers arrived at Lapidus’ home in Carnegie Street, Montrose, at 8.10am on September 29 2021.
They believed someone using a device with an IP address registered there was involved in the sharing of child sex abuse material online in July that year.
Some of the files uncovered by police featured girls between the ages of four and 13 being abused.
Every device analysed had files categorised as A, B and C in severity.
In total, Lapidus’ cache consisted of 4,176 twisted files – 272 of which were videos.
More than 1,000 of the images and more than 250 of the videos were considered to be of the most graphic kind.
Bestiality and child abuse
The first device police looked at had 59 images and 26 vile videos which, if played back-to-back, would last for around an hour.
However, the scale of depravity ramped up significantly as police moved onto other devices he owned.
The second had 1,875 explicit images and 142 videos.
Creation dates showed the files were a fortnight old.
The run-time of the child abuse footage was a day and nine hours.
On top of this, the device harboured 75 videos of bestiality involving horses and dogs, as well as three images.
These clips, if played back-to-back, would have lasted 12 hours.
Air rifle found
Another device was inspected by officers and an even larger haul was uncovered – 1,945 images of child abuse and 129 more sick videos.
Their creation dates ranged over four days earlier that month.
Another 65 videos of bestiality were found on this device and three more images.
They all were created exactly two weeks before the raid.
The videos from the third device would also have lasted 12 hours if played back-to-back.
Police scouring the home also found an air rifle with a worn gas reservoir.
Lapidus told them he did not know he needed a certificate as it was not functional.
Guilt
Lapidus admitted that between February 10 2020 and September 22 2021, he took or made indecent images of children.
He also pled guilty to possessing “extreme” pornography realistically depicting humans engaging in sexual activity with horses between September 15 and 29 in 2022.
He admitted owning an air rifle without a certificate.
Solicitor Sarah Russo said that given the nature of the offending and Lapidus’ lack of record, a social work report would be required.
The first offender will return to the dock to be sentenced on March 28.
Sheriff Krista Johnston placed him on the Sex Offenders Register.
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