Internet ‘poster boy’ jailed after amassing child abuse images

Man found with more than 1,000 indecent images and videos after raid on home

A community leader who told police an enormous collection of child abuse images was “his guilty secret” has been jailed.

Adrian Snowball, who was used by a Scottish Government agency as a poster boy for getting people online, initially claimed he had nothing to do with the enormous hoard of pictures because he was straight and “had a low sex drive”.

But he later admitted he downloaded the haul of more than 10,000 still images and videos retrieved from his laptop and hard drives after a police raid of his home in the East Neuk.

Snowball, who served as the chairman of East Neuk First Responders, treasurer of the Carnbee and Arncoach Community Council and was part of the area’s development trust, initially denied having anything to do with allegations of sex abuse images being downloaded at his home.

But when confronted by police with forensic evidence secured from his laptop he broke down and said: “It’s time to come clean.”

Snowball, a retired human resources consultant who has volunteered as a “Digital Champion” for a charity that aims to get people using computers, then branded his haul his “guilty secret”.

Depute fiscal Vicki Bell told Dundee Sheriff Court that police had received a tip off in February this year that a Hotmail address linked to Snowball had been used to upload images to a Microsoft cloud storage site.

She said: “The e-mail address was linked to the accused and on February 22 around 8am officers attended to execute a search warrant.

“They found him in the premises alone.

“They showed him the warrant and cautioned him.

“He was questioned by officers and confirmed he lived alone and that he had computers in the property.

“He said he used them for slideshows and music but denied having indecent images of children.

“A search commenced and items were seized.

“An initial examination a number of indecent images were found so he was detained and taken to Levenmouth police station.

“He denied ever having seen indecent images on any of his devices. He said he was a heterosexual male who had a low sex drive since an illness in 2010.

“It was explained that the devices he had admitted ownership of had undergone a forensic examination and more than 1,000 indecent images and videos had been found. “He stated ‘it’s time to come clean’. “He said he had viewed images up to around 2015 and said he knew it was wrong and had taken steps to delete them.

“He said he had been sexually attracted to boys and called it his ‘guilty secret’.”

The court heard Snowball had 623 still images and 235 videos at category A – the highest level of depravity – along with 1,270 images and 145 videos at category B and 8,603 pictures and 387 videos at category C.

Snowball, 63, of Main Road, Arncoach, Fife, pleaded guilty on indictment to possessing indecent images of children on February 22 this year.

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael jailed Snowball for six months and placed him on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

He said: “The number of images and videos at category A means a custodial sentence is appropriate.”

Adrian Snowball said the haul of child porn was his “guilty secret”.