A former police officer was caught with thousands of child abuse images after a raid on his home.
Derek Kennedy admitted hoarding the depraved videos and images on multiple devices on Buttar’s Road between August 2016 and July last year.
The 34-year-old was placed on the sex offender’s register after sentence was deferred at Dundee Sheriff Court for social work reports to be obtained.
Kennedy previously served as a police officer before quitting the force on medical grounds.
It was revealed that police searched Kennedy’s house and seized a mobile phone which contained a haul of vile images and videos.
Further discoveries were made on two laptops with Kennedy telling police that he did not know why he had them.
Prosecutor Eilidh Robertson told the court: “He admitted he had downloaded indecent images but said ‘something in the back of my mind made me keep them.’
“He said he did not know how he came to download them in the first place.”
Kennedy, a man with no previous convictions, had transferred many of the images between his devices and had used file-sharing software to download and search for them.
In total, Kennedy was found with 1,118 indecent videos and 4,707 images.
Ms Robertson revealed that 810 of the videos and 560 of the images were classed as category A, the highest-level of depravity.
She added that the images and videos predominantly featured female children being abused. The videos lasted for a total of 18 hours.
Some of the haul was said to have involved animals and sadism.
When appearing personally at Dundee Sheriff Court, Kennedy pleaded guilty on indictment to taking, permitting to be taken or making indecent images of children on Buttar’s Road between August 2016 and July last year.
Defence solicitor Theo Finlay said that he would reserve the majority of his mitigation until social work reports had been prepared.
However, he told Sheriff Lorna Drummond that Kennedy had “significant” mental health issues.
Mr Finlay said: “He has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
“In the earlier part of the libel he was in employment throughout his adult life. He was a serving police officer but he had to resign for medical reasons.
“There’s a history of burgeoning mental health difficulties.”
Sheriff Drummond deferred sentence on Kennedy for reports to be prepared and for a Tay Project assessment to be obtained.
Kennedy was released on bail and placed on the sex offender’s register meantime.
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