Stephen Moncrieff, 60, was caught by police in June last year after cyber crimes officers discovered his IP address was being used to access illicit pictures.

When officers searched his flat in Elgin’s South Street they discovered a number of electronic devices that had been used to surf the internet.

Three laptops were removed from the property, together with hidden nine memory sticks.

Each device contained images and in some cases videos of young children aged between two and 16, ranging from the most serious category A, depicting serious abuse, to category C.

Depute Fiscal Kevin Corrans told Elgin Sheriff Court that Moncrieff had revealed the hiding places of the various items to police officers.

He said: “The first laptop was found in the bedroom and the accused then identified a black toilet bag in the wardrobe where there was a Samsung phone box containing six memory sticks.

“They also found a further USB stick hidden in the console of his vehicle.

“On a USB stick, officers found deleted indecent pics of children, along with some on the laptop.

“Moncrieff was then cautioned and charged.”

All of the videos and images were inaccessible to the police, although they had been accessed and downloaded within the past five years.

Overall, there were 252,901 indecent videos and images on Moncrieff’s various devices, including 2,169 at category A and a further 2,807 at category B. The remainder were category C.

Defence solicitor Duncan Henderson said his client was not seeking bail.

Moncrieff pled guilty to a taking or permitting to be taken or making indecent photos of children between May 9, 2013 and June 8, 2018.

Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov deferred sentence for four weeks for reports and placed Moncrieff on the sex offenders register in the meantime.

He was remanded in custody.