A Scots pervert amassed a vile hoard of child abuse images over nearly eight years with some victims aged as young as two.
Thomas Campbell built up the depraved haul of several thousand photos of girls and boys at his then-home in Midlothian before being snared by cops.
The 60-year-old appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday which heard members of his family had “cut ties with him”.
But the court was told there was a “letter of support” from Campbell’s wife which could be passed to Sheriff Alistair Noble.
Campbell admitted possessing indecent images of children between July 17 2013 and March 22 last year at his former home in Loanhead.
Fiscal depute Anna Chisholm said police visited the address to execute a search warrant.
She said a total of 3782 accessible indecent images of children were recovered from five electronic devices and another 3165 images which were inaccessible.
More than 1000 of the images were at Category A - the worst level on the scale.
The prosecutor said images of girls and boys were found with the victims ranging in age between two and 16.
Ms Chisholm said searches had been carried out using the devices for “teen dolls” and “pre-teen angels”.
Defence agent Ross Dow said he had a “letter of support” from Campbell’s wife but there was a “lack of support from other members of his family who have cut ties with him”.
Sheriff Noble deferred sentence on Campbell, now living in Port Seton, East Lothian, until next month for reports and added him to the sex offenders register.
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