Arbroath senior teacher escapes jail term for child abuse images
A SENIOR teacher who amassed a library of more than 22,000 child abuse images and bestiality images while running the computing department of a secondary school has avoided a jail term.
Roger Moult was principal of computing at Arbroath Academy and the chairman of a church organisation.
But the “hoarder” had a shameful secret.
Over a period of almost ten years, he downloaded 22,492 indecent images of children, and amassed 54 child-abuse videos and a stash of “extreme porn” images of dogs and horses with women.
Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday heard that police were tipped off about Moult’s child-abuse stash when his credit card information was flagged up after buying DVDs from a Canadian website.
It claimed to offer “naturist” videos but in fact supplied DVDs of naked children.
Procurator fiscal depute Kirsten Thomson said police raided his home in Montrose on 6 March last year and found porn in every room.
She said: “The house was extremely untidy and there was a large amount of pornographic material – magazines, DVDs and videos in every room. He was informed of the nature of the inquiry and was detained. A total of 25 computer devices were seized and evidential material was found on each.
December 2014
Teacher caught with tens of thousands of indecent images of children
A senior teacher was caught with a collection of thousands of indecent images of children.
Roger Moult, who was previously head of computing at Arbroath Academy in the Angus town, amassed the collection over a period of more than nine years.
Moult also had a stash of “extreme” pornographic images on his computer system at his home in Montrose’s High Street.
It is understood Moult’s indecent images of children totalled tens of thousands, while the beastility pictures showed women having sex with dogs and horses.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard the haul came to light in March when police raided his home.
It is understood Moult no longer works at the school.
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told the court she would provide a full breakdown of the number of images he had in his possession and their severity when he appears for sentence in January.
Moult, 64, of High Street, Montrose, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of possessing indecent photographs of children between January 8, 2005 and March 5, 2014.
He further admitted a charge of possessing extreme pornography between January 24, 2012 and March 5, 2014.
Moult’s solicitor, Norman Fraser, said he would reserve his plea in mitigation to a later sentencing date.
Sheriff Alistair Brown deferred sentence for criminal justice social work background reports.
Moult was placed on the sex offenders register and released on bail meantime.
He is expected to appear in court again early next year when he faces a jail sentence.
