Sex offender took secret videos of women on train and was caught with indecent images of children
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A Highlands man secretly filmed neighbours, women on public transport, fellow students and was caught with a stash of more than 600 indecent images of children.
Iain Grant's house at Highfield in Muir of Ord was raided by police following a tip-off where officers discovered the videos and pictures across multiple electronic devices.
This included 21 clips of the same woman filmed without her consent while she travelled on a train going between the Ross-shire town and Inverness.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard the majority of the videos shot on the train and in Inverness train station showed the legs of various women wearing tights.
When police seized Grant's computer equipment they discovered the 46-year-old had also taken a number of secret videos of his neighbours' houses while they were inside.
One of the tapes discovered in a briefcase showed that at one point he had used a night vision camera to do so.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair said that when police carried out the search warrant on November 27, 2019, Grant said to them: "I know what you're looking for. It's me you are looking for".
Some of the videos dated back as far as 2002.
One file on a computer was labelled 'spy video' and another 'spy photo'.
Police found a total of 71 clips of a voyeuristic nature on one hard drive and a total of 631 indecent images of children were found across all of his equipment.
Of the indecent images, 239 were of a category A nature - the most severe.
The others were rated as category B and C.
Secret footage was also shot on buses and at bus stops between Falcon Square in the Highland capital and the UHI Inverness campus, where Grant was studying computer science.
He also filmed under tables at the university canteen.
Mrs Gair said police managed to identify the woman filmed the most on the train and she was informed.
The fiscal depute added: "[She] stated she had been completely unaware she was being filmed by the accused.
"She stated that on now being aware of that fact she felt 'violated' and was 'quite alarmed' by the accused's actions."
Grant admitted to conducting himself in a disorderly manner between March 2002 and February 2019 by filming the women without their knowledge and thereby committing a breach of the peace.
The offences took place at his home, on various forms of public transport and at UHI Inverness.
He also admitted possessing indecent photos or pseudo-photos of children between October 2016 and November 2019.
Sheriff Sara Matheson deferred sentence until January 17 for the preparation of background reports and Grant was released on bail meantime.
He was placed on the sex offenders register in the interim.
