Cambuslang woman reports ex-husband to police over stash of child porn
A Cambuslang woman found her estranged husband's stash of child pornography and reported him to the police.
A Cambuslang woman found her estranged husband's stash of child pornography and reported him to the police. Richard Smith, 45, was caught weeks after leaving his partner June who later found a stash of pictures of underage girls. She immediately called the police who took computer equipment away from their Cambuslang home and searched Smith’s property in Burnside - where more sick images were discovered. At Glasgow Sheriff Court data analyst Smith, pled guilty to downloading 14,382 images between December 2012 and January 2016. Procurator fiscal depute Elizabeth Aitken said: “On July 16, the accused’s ex wife called Police Scotland regarding images she discovered on a number of computer drives which previously belonged to the accused.” Speaking outside court June - who has a teenage daughter - said Smith had left her only weeks before she discovered the pictures on USB sticks in the house. She said: “I just thought ‘I need to report this, these are illegal’ when I saw right away they were young girls. “I was absolutely disgusted and felt so hurt and betrayed by a man I married. “I was so concerned about my daughter’s safety we had the locks changed on the door. “I’m so relieved it’s over because it has been a nightmare going through this.” Police forensically analysed hardware taken from the family house to find 4,552 'level C' images. A search warrant was granted for Smith’s parents' house in Burnside where more computer equipment was taken away and he was detained and questioned. The court heard he made a “no comment” interview and was charged. After analysing the rest of the hardware and finding a further 9,830 'level C' images the police questioned him again before he was arrested and charged. There are various categories ranging from A to E with A being the most extreme. It was heard in court that the images involved girls between eight and 16 years old and had been downloaded from internet websites. Sheriff Sam Cathcart deferred sentence on Smith until next month and continued his bail.