A HELENSBURGH man has pleaded guilty to having more than 130,000 indecent pictures and videos of children - some younger than one-year-old.

Kieran Webster admitted being possession of indecent images on multiple devices – and police found more images even after the 23-year-old had appeared in court.

Webster, listed in court papers as an inmate at Greenock prison, had previous convictions and was slammed by a sheriff for fuelling the market for indecent content that led to children being abused.

Hundreds of still images and videos were of the most serious category, Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday. One image was described in court as involving a baby girl younger than two-years-old. The summary of the abuse is too extreme to report.

Depute fiscal Meghan Glancey said police attended a property in Buchanan Road, Helensburgh, with a search warrant on April 3, 2020. They found a laptop and mobile phone.

The laptop had 810 still images, 113 of the most serious nature – category A. There were 1,334 videos, 749 of those were category A.

On the mobile phone there were 449 images, one at category A, and 35 videos, with 10 of those rated as the most serious. The phone had a number of bookmarks for websites to search for indecent images of children.

Both boys and girls aged between one year and 14 were depicted.

After police received more intelligence about Webster, a search on October 28 last year found another mobile.

That device and cloud storage had 29,812 still images, most of them at the lowest category C, but 987 still at category A. There were also 3,086 videos and 1,852 of those were category A.

Children under the age of one and up to 15 were depicted, both male and female.

Despite being fully committed after a court appearance on November 6, and being released on bail, police again got a tip about Webster and turned up at his home on February 23, 2021.

Webster told officers he didn’t own any devices, but later produced a mobile phone that he had hidden under bedsheets. There was also a USB stick and a hard-drive recovered.

The phone had programs to remove search history and delete files, in breach of his bail conditions.

But police found a staggering 93,199 still images and 1,561 videos. Although most were the lowest category C level, 110 pictures and 606 videos were category A.

Webster pleaded guilty to taking, or permitting to be taken, or to making indecent photos or pseudo-photos of children between February 18, 2019 and February 22, 2021.

He further admitted possession of such images between the same dates, breaching a bail order issued on November 6, and failing to produce devices to officers when requested.

The Crown made a motion for a sexual offences protection order (SOPO) to be imposed as part of Webster’s punishment.

Sheriff William Gallacher deferred sentence for background reports because Webster had not previously served a jail sentence.

But he warned Webster that “each one of these offences is very serious”, and added: “The fact you maintained the behaviour causes real concern.”

Webster was remanded in custody to await a social work report and a risk assessment. He was placed on the sex offenders register in the interim.