Edinburgh crime: James McCabe caught with horror child abuse and bestiality haul is sent to prison

Edinburgh man caught with horror child abuse and bestiality images

An Edinburgh pervert caught with a horror collection of bestiality and child abuse images – including the rape and torture of a six month old baby – has been jailed. James McCabe was found to have downloaded thousands of photographs and movies showing the sexual abuse of male and female children when police raided his Edinburgh home in 2021.

Disturbing video footage also discovered on McCabe’s computer showed children being forced into “sexual activity with animals, particularly dogs” while another image featured “the depiction of the rape of an infant”. The 61-year-old pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month and he was back in the dock for sentencing on Tuesday, April 11.

Defence agent Jennifer Cameron told the court her client had made “significant changes to his life since his arrest” and was engaging with the Stop It Now offenders’ programme. Ms Cameron added McCabe was forced to resign from his job after being arrested but he had shown “a high level of responsibility and insight” into his offending. Sheriff Christopher Dickson said: “In all the circumstances a custodial sentence is the only way of dealing with you.” McCabe was jailed for 16 months and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

Edinburgh man James McCabe has been sent to prison over a horror haul of child abuse and bestiality images

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Previously fiscal depute Matthew Miller told the court police received an anonymous tip off regarding the downloading of the material at McCabe’s home in the Murrayfield area of the Capital. Officers arrived with a search warrant on September 9 2021 and McCabe pointed out a computer tower unit that he had used to access the material. Mr Miller said analysis of the equipment revealed McCabe was using the profile name “Hamish” and files under that name contained the indent images and videos.

The prosecutor told the court there were a total of 6,574 images and 588 videos of children being sexually abused by adults and forced to pose in a sexual manner. The court heard the collection contained 958 pictures at Category A, 672 at Category B and 4944 rated as Category C. The movies were detailed as 460 at Category A, 111 Category B and 17 at Category C.

Mr Miller gave harrowing descriptions of the material possessed by McCabe including children aged between six months and 16 years old involved in penetrative sexual acts. The fiscal said “a large number of images were particularly graphic” and included the “depiction of the rape of infants”.

He said the movies found also featured male and female children aged between six months and 16 years old “engaging in sexual posing” and “penetrative sex”. Mr Miller added: “A number of search terms on the device were indicative of Mr McCabe having knowledge of child sex exploitation material.” The fiscal said the total run time of the movies was 31 hours and 36 minutes and said the Crown were moving for for the forfeiture and destruction of the computer tower unit. McCabe pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children at his home at Baird Avenue, Edinburgh, between April 14, 2020 and September 9, 2021.

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