A convicted murderer has been jailed for a second time after he was caught with a horror collection of child abuse images.
James Haston downloaded the haul of vile pictures and videos showing the sexual abuse of boys aged between 12 months and 16 years over an eight-year period.
The 57-year-old pervert claimed he had accessed the images by accident and that three printed images showing naked children also found at his home had been sent to him in the post.
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Haston appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday where he pled guilty to possessing indecent images of children between February 2014 and September last year.
Haston was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2000 after he admitted murdering a Good Samaritan friend who had allowed him to stay at his Edinburgh home.
Haston had been evicted and was homeless when pal Thomas Gill had offered him a place to stay while he got himself back on his feet.
But the friendship turned violent following a drunken row over food and drink at Mr Gill’s home in the Wester Hailes area of the capital.
Haston plunged a knife into his 65-year-old victim’s throat before stamping on him so viciously the man was left 16 broken ribs, a broken chest bone and a fractured jaw.
The murderer, who was 34 at the time, was sentenced to life imprisonment at the High Court in Edinburgh after admitting the brutal killing.
This week prosecutor Ross Price told the court police officers raided Haston’s home in the Joppa area of the capital and seized three devices on September 20 last year.
Mr Price said a total of 196 images and two videos were discovered following an examination of the equipment by cyber crime officers.
The fiscal said Category A images involved boys aged between 13 and 16 years old and some of the Category B images featured male children aged just 12 months old.
The court was also told three “hard copy images [of abused children] had been printed out” were also uncovered at Haston’s home.
Haston’s solicitor said her client was recalled on licence following his arrest last September and was not due for release until April next year.
She said Haston “accepts he had them in his possession” but he claimed he had been sent the images by email and received the printed posters through the post.
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The lawyer said Haston “had attempted to delete them but was unable to do that” and had been given the USB stick containing images by a friend.
She added: “He advises me he is not sexually attracted to children but does accept he had these images in his possession.”
Sheriff Donald Corke said: “You have a short but significant record including the life sentence for murder that you have been recalled.
“Although there are relatively few images custody is inevitable.”
Haston was jailed for 12 months backdated to the date of his arrest last September and was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.
Haston pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children between February 2, 2014 and September 20 last year at an address at Coillesdene, Edinburgh.
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