Former Police Officer Colin Ralph Murray downloaded child porn
A FORMER police officer had downloaded more than 500 vile, pornographic images of children, some as young as three, from the internet.
More than 40 indecent videos, some showing naked children in sex acts with adults and animals, were also seized after police searched the 55-year-old?s Perth home.
Perth Sheriff Court was told that Colin Ralph Murray, of Goodlyburn Terrace, ?showed no emotion? and was ?quite matter of fact? while he watched some of the porn along with police ? and described the sex acts on view.
Murray had his name added to the Sex Offenders? Register and will be sentenced on January 20.
His bail was continued while psychological, social inquiry and community service reports are prepared. A restriction of liberty order assessment was also called for.
Murray pled guilty to having a total of 514 indecent photographs and 43 indecent films of children at his home between March 29, 2005, and November 15, 2007.
Depute fiscal Chris Mackintosh said that information had been received from the Child Exploitation and On-Line Protection Centre (CEOP) that the accused had accessed a member-restricted website.
It contained images of male and female children in sexual poses and taking part in various sex acts with adults.
?Information was provided regarding an e-mail address used and, as a result, a warrant was obtained in respect of the accused?s home.?
Detectives went to 20 Goodlyburn Terrace on the evening of November 15 last year and searched the premises.
?A number of items were seized, including a computer hard drive, a laptop and a briefcase containing a number of DVDs and videos,? added the depute fiscal.
The accused attended voluntarily at Perth Police HQ and initially denied that anything of ?interest or relevance? would be found on the material seized.
When the items were taken into the interview room, however, he admitted viewing child pornography and downloading it from a member-restricted website on the internet.
Mr Mackintosh explained that child pornography was split into five categories, ranging from images depicting children in erotic poses, to penetrative sexual activity between adults and children and level five ? sadism or bestiality.
?The indecent material and videos seized fell into each of these categories,? added Mr Mackintosh.
The children involved ranged from approximately three to 14 years.
The accused was later detained. When asked what gratification he received by viewing the porn, he replied ?None?.
And when asked why he had saved the material, he said: ?Because I have paid for it.?
Asked why he had shown no emotion or shock when he viewed it with officers, he stated it was because he had seen the images before.
Solicitor Jamie Morris said that because background reports were being obtained, he would reserve his plea in mitigation until then.
Murray, who is understood to be an incidents investigator with a large insurance company, was a police officer but resigned in 1979.
He has a previous conviction for breach of the peace and indecent exposure, dating back to 1986, when he was admonmished.
Perthshire Advertiser