Edinburgh dad caught with horror haul of child abuse material at family home appears in the dock
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Philip Bampton was found to have stored hundreds of images and videos depicting young children being sexually abused by adults on two devices when police raided his home in 2023.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told the shocking collection of pictures and videos included male and female children aged between six and 14-years-old.
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Hide AdFiscal depute Matthew Miller said police officers received intelligence that child abuse material had been “uploaded” to a device at Bampton’s home in the Muirhouse area of the capital.


A raid was carried out on the property and officers were met by the 44-year-old offender and his family members at around 8.30am on November 3, 2023.
Two devices - a computer system unit and a mobile phone - were subsequently seized and found to contain 229 images and three video files showing the sexual abuse of children.
Mr Miller told the court there were 70 files discovered that were rated by specialist police officers as Category A - the most depraved end of the spectrum.
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Hide AdBampton appeared in the dock at the capital court today, Monday, February 3, where he pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children at his home between December 19, 2022 and November 3, 2023.
Sheriff Matthew Auchincloss said: “I have to find out if there is an alternative to a custodial sentence for you so I will have to call for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment.
“That means you will meet with a specialist social worker who will produce a report for me about the background circumstances and the risk that you pose for further offending.
“It is very important you co-operate with that process.”
Bampton was placed on the sex offenders register on an interim basis and sentence was deferred to next month.