A BEITH man has been placed on the sex offenders register after being found with hundreds of indecent images of children in a Largs flat.

Lennon Ferguson, 24, pleaded guilty to being in possession of the indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children at a flat in Nelson Street and elsewhere between November 2, 2020 and June 30, 2022.

He also admitted a further charge of being in possession of extreme pornographic images at the same locations between April 18, 2021 and May 11, 2022.

The images were discovered when police attended the address in Largs on June 30 last year.

Details of the search were revealed when Lennon appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week.

The procurator fiscal depute told the court that the search uncovered a mobile phone belonging to Ferguson, who now lives at Park Avenue in Beith.

 

The indecent images were discovered during an initial search of the phone - though Ferguson initially denied any involvement when interviewed by police.

A full forensic examination found 66 still images within the cache storage of the phone, eight of which were still accessible at the time of analysis.

A further 36 moving images were also discovered on the phone.

The still and moving images depicted boys and girls aged between three and 15.

Another three "extreme pornographic images" were also found on the device which depicted scenes of bestiality.

The fiscal depute said Ferguson had obtained the images through the applications Telegram and Omegle.

After hearing the circumstances from the prosecution, Sheriff Murdo Mactaggart deferred sentence until the new year for background reports and granted Ferguson bail.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register, and will find out when he is sentenced how long he will remain on the list.