British police arrested a man for hoarding child abuse images just moments before he was due to board a plane to the Philippines.
David Halliburton, from Carlisle, was snared after a friend he had left his computer with came across scores of vile images and called the police.
When officers examined the 59-year-old’s laptop, they found dozens of indecent images, including a video of a seven-year-old boy being sexually abused.
When police caught up with the defendant at Manchester Airport he was just minutes away from boarding a flight to Manila.
According to the Cumbria Crack news site, Halliburton admitted three counts of downloading indecent photos of children.
John Moran, prosecuting, said the offences came to light after the horrified friend to whom the defendant handed over his laptop and another device chanced upon the images.
In total, police found 119 indecent images of children on the defendant’s computer.
“The police discovered the images the court has heard about, including a high number of the most serious Category A images — 74 in total.
“Some of the images were unpleasant moving images, including one of a boy aged seven to 10.
“When these images came to light it was discovered that the defendant was due to fly that evening to the Philippines.
“He was subsequently arrested by police in Manchester and then handed over to the police in Cumbria. He accepted in his interview that he was about to travel to the Philippines.
“He said he was going to see his partner, whom he had been in a relationship with since 2016.”
The police officers who examined the laptop found evidence that Halliburton had typed in various “unpleasant” search terms.
The offences were committed on dates between 2011 and 2018, the court was told.
After his arrest, Halliburton was made to surrender his passport. The prosecutor asked for three bail conditions to be imposed on him — to remain in the UK, to spend every night in his own home and to make daily reports to his local police station.
Halliburton, who spoke only to confirm his name, address, date of birth, and to enter his pleas, must have no unsupervised contact with any child.
His defence lawyer Rachel Dixon accepted that the case was so serious that her client should be sentenced by a judge at Carlisle Crown Court. That hearing will be held on July 6.
Magistrates ruled that his name must now go on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
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