A former Dundee children’s karate and kickboxing teacher was found with thousands of child abuse and bestiality images, a court was told.
David McAusland shared some of the images, which featured children as young as six, on the internet more than 100 times.
The 50-year-old was warned by a sheriff that a prison sentence was a “distinct possibility” when he returns to court next month.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard that a total of 2,736 images and 39 videos were found after police raided McAusland’s South Road flat in September last year.
Officers had received intelligence that a device using his IP address was connected to the internet and contained indecent images of children that were available for sharing.
A computer tower, laptops, hard drives, USB sticks and other electronic items were recovered in the raid. An initial preview of the computer tower revealed 252 indecent images.
Fiscal depute Douglas Wiseman said: “The accused initially admitted to owning the computer equipment within his home but denied accessing any pornographic sites or accessing indecent images of children.
“It was then put to him that a police investigation revealed that 252 indecent images of children aged 6 to 14 had been found.
“He was asked of his knowledge of these and admitted to downloading the images. He confirmed that he was the only person who had access to the computer.
“He also confirmed that all the items taken from the property belonged to him.”
McAusland admitted charges of downloading, possessing and distributing indecent images of children between May 8 2011 and September 17 2013.
He also admitted possessing extreme pornography between July 29 and September 15 2013.
Sheriff Elizabeth Munro deferred sentence until August 29 for reports and released McAusland on bail.
She told him: “A custodial sentence is a distinct possibility.”