A GALASHIELS man has admitted possessing thousands of indecent images and videos of children.

William Baird committed the offence at his home in the town’s Knoll Park Drive, and elsewhere, between March 2016, and November last year.

Selkirk Sheriff Court was told the children featured in the images ranged in age from infant to 15 years old.

Fiona Hamilton, prosecuting, revealed when police, acting on intelligence, confronted the 38-year-old at his home, he replied: “That’s me f***ed.”

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The court heard some 9,040 “accessible” images and 976 “accessible” videos were found over nine devices, while a further 7,686 images and 55 videos, described as “inaccessible”, were also found.

They included more than 3,000 images and more than 200 videos in Category A – which is considered to be the most severe category of offending.

Sheriff Peter Paterson said it was "an extremely serious situation” and deferred sentence until January 9 for background reports.

First offender Baird was made subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act.