A SEXUAL offences accused Greenock man yesterday told a jury that he downloaded extreme bestiality pornography onto his home computer - and maintained not guilty pleas to charges of having indecent images of children.

Robert Leith, 66, took to the witness stand at the sheriff court and declared that he had interest in the 'hunt' for bestiality videos but not the content of them.

He is now facing charges that he downloaded indecent images of children and had them in his possession between February 1999 and July 2021.

Giving his evidence, Leith discussed his possession of extreme pornography – which the court previously heard concerned ‘animals and adult humans’.

He said: “I had very little interest in anything that I have downloaded.

“It was more the hunting for it, the finding it that was my interest – the content was not.”

Leith admitted to having bestiality pornography on his computer between March 2011 and July 2021.

He did so after evidence was heard from expert witnesses who analysed devices recovered from his home by police.

Defence Advocate Andrew Crosbie noted that Leith had offered to tender this plea ‘months ago’, but it was rejected by the Crown at that stage.

Fiscal depute Kirstin Brierley informed Sheriff Sheena Fraser that the Crown intended to proceed to trial on the charges relating to child images.

READ MORE: Greenock man stands trial on indecent images charges

Mr Crosbie acknowledged that the trial had previously heard evidence of ‘pretty appalling’ material being found on devices recovered from Leith’s home.

Leith denied having any knowledge of such images being on any equipment he had owned or accessed.

Greenock Telegraph: Greenock Sheriff Court

He told jurors that he spends around eight to 10 hours a day on the Internet and often downloads films and electronic books.

Leith admitted to ‘pirating’ this kind of material, and agreed that he ‘habitually’ downloaded such files.

Asked if he was aware of how images depicting exploitation of children could have come to be on his device, he said: “Honestly, I’ve no idea.

“I know you can have files sent to your hard drive without knowing, but that’s very unlikely to happen to any great extent.”

Leith also denied having any knowledge of a string of emails sent to the user of the devices recovered at his home which were found to contain terms police deem to be 'indicative of child abuse'.

Mr Crosbie also asked his client if he could explain how sites containing similar indicative key terms were found in internet browser histories and bookmarks.

Leith replied: “I’ve no idea why or how.

Greenock Telegraph:

“I don’t remember if I’ve accessed them. I can be looking at 40 or 50 sites a day.

“There’s a number of ways to get on a website.

“You can have a redirect, a pop up, or click on a link for the latest movie and it takes you here instead.

“You take the link on trust.”

Leith told the court that he had around 200 to 300 sites bookmarked on his browser, and that he was in the habit of bookmarking pages in case of a window crashing.

The trial continues at Greenock Sheriff Court.