Leslie Rutherford, the Edinburgh Paedophile, was found to have downloaded so many photographs and films of children being sexually abused that police detectives had to stop evaluating them, a court heard this week.
When authorities investigated Leslie Rutherford’s previous house in Edinburgh, they discovered that he had over one million files, including horrifying photos of youngsters classified as “infants”.
Police Scotland police discovered so many heinous photos on three hard drives that they “agreed with the Crown that the Cybercrime Unit would stop grading the images after a time”.
A sheriff told Rutherford, 69, to “prepare yourself for a custodial sentence” after he pleaded guilty to holding the enormous cache of photos at an Edinburgh Sheriff Court hearing on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Morgan Beattie told the court that Rutherford, now of Kirkcaldy, Fife, was a registered sex offender after being convicted in 2021 of possessing more than 370,000 child abuse photographs.
As part of his punishment, police officials were compelled to visit the pensioner’s home to inspect his computer gadgets, and during one visit, it was discovered that he had viewed the website ‘Sugar Candy’.
Ms Beattie stated, “On this website, the accused viewed an image of a female, aged five or six, wearing swimwear and lying on a beach.”
“Given this, Mr Rutherford was admonished and asked if there were any other indecent photos of children on his computer. He claimed that there wasn’t, but the investigators noticed he was visibly shaking. All electronic devices capable of connecting to the internet and storing photographs were seized from him and his property and examined.
“During this examination so many files were identified on the devices that it was agreed with the Crown that the Cybercrime Unit would stop grading the images after a time.”
The prosecutor told the court that hundreds of thousands of child abuse images were discovered buried within computer folders featuring photographs of a home makeover.
Disgusting photographs of mostly female youngsters were discovered in folders titled “Little girls on the beach and pool 5,” and the files were reported to contain victims aged “infant to 15 years old.”
Ms Beattie stated that there were around one million files on the device that “the [police] database had not previously encountered and required grading” but remained uncategorised owing to “time constraints”.
The finance department continued: “Across the [three] devices examined, there were still 1,554,515 media files left to be graded.”
Defending lawyer Yvonne McKenna told the court that the offences occurred around the same time as her client’s prior case in 2021, and that he is suffering from bowel and prostate cancer.
Ms McKenna continues: “I have explained to him that albeit he is securing his liberty today that doesn’t mean to say that he will not receive a custodial sentence in due course.”
Sheriff Robert Fife placed Rutherford on the sex offenders register and postponed his sentencing until next month to allow for the completion of social work reports.
Sheriff Fife stated, “As Ms McKenna correctly identifies, you should prepare for a custodial sentence.” The court will have access to all available possibilities, so be prepared.
Rutherford pled guilty to collecting indecent photographs of minors at his previous house on Glasgow Road in Ratho Station, Edinburgh, between January 10 and September 28, 2021.
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