Edinburgh crime: Pervert Salvatore Di Pietro caught uploading baby and child abuse images on Facebook
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An Edinburgh man was with a vile haul of child abuse material after storing the pictures and videos on his Facebook account.
Salvatore Di Pietro was found to have uploaded thousands of sickening images to the picture folder of his social media account when police raided his Edinburgh home last year. The 48-year-old was at home alone when officers arrived at his flat following an anonymous tip off and discovered images showing the sexual abuse of children as young as 12-months-old. Police seized several pieces electrical equipment and following a cyber crime examination it was found he had a total of 4,769 images and videos hidden on his Facebook account.
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Hide AdDi Pietro appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday, May 9, where he pleaded guilty to possessing the images at his home at the capital’s Calder area over a five year period. He now faces a jail term after a sheriff told him “all options will be open to the court including a custodial sentence”.
Fiscal depute Matthew Miller told the court Di Pietro was the only occupant of the flat he shares with three others when police arrived to search the home at around 6.15am on July 15 last year. A laptop and a hard drive were confiscated during the search and both devices were found to have indecent images of children stored on them. Mr Millar said a total of 4,769 images and videos – featuring children between one and 15 years old – were discovered in the picture folder of his social media account.
The court was told some of the images had been deleted and 454 of the pictures and films were classified as Category A – the most depraved end of the spectrum.
Sheriff Robert Fife said: “Obviously this offence is serious and all options will be open to the court including a custodial sentence.” Di Pietro was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for a term still to be decided and sentence was deferred to next month. Di Pietro pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children at his home between September 25, 2017 and August 5 last year.