A retired Fife history teacher was caught with a stash of extreme pornographic and child sex abuse images, described by investigators as among the worst they had seen.

Depraved Norman Czemerys, 71, had photographs depicting women and children being tortured, bound, sexually abused and raped.

Police raided his Dunfermline home in May last year and almost 1,300 images and videos were found on four devices seized from his study, some of them in the worst category.

Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard Czemerys had a morbid fascination with torture and sadomasochism which spiralled out of control.

Procurator fiscal depute Claire Bremner said that images examined during the investigation were some of the worst seen by the analysts.

Czemerys, of Victoria Terrace, Dunfermline, admitted possessing extreme pornographic images depicting the sexual assault and torture of women between March 9 and May 14 last year and taking or permitting to be taken or making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children between September 2011 and May 2019.

He was warned by Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist QC it was very likely he would be jailed when he returns for sentence on April 8, but his suitability for a community-based disposal is to be assessed.

Married father-of-two Czemerys, an accomplished artist, was a teacher for 34 years, including at Dunfermline High School, before he retired in June 2006.

Solicitor Stephen Morrison told the court: Mr Czemerys is deeply ashamed by his behaviour, thoroughly embarrassed and indeed disgusted and repulsed.

He said Czemerys claimed to have had dark thoughts since adolescence, when he suffered psychological abuse.

He said: He started exploring in detail these thoughts after he retired.

He had always been fascinated as a history teacher about mans inhumanity to man.

He said Czemerys morbid interest began with the adult pictures but he became desensitised and his curiosity grew, leading him to view more extreme images and child sex abuse images.

Czemerys conceded there was a degree of sexual gratification, he said.

Mr Morrison said: Otherwise he was an upstanding member of the community.

As a consequence he that, he tells me, even as he was doing this searching and exploration he was both disgusted and repulsed first of all by his own behaviour and also by some of the images he saw, hence a high percentage of them were deleted.

Mr Morrison said Czemerys, who suffered bouts of depression when his offending escalated, recognised that his crimes were not victimless and he had sought help and counselling.

Czemerys was placed on the sex offenders register.

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Former Fife teacher found with child abuse images had 'morbid fascination' with torture and sadomasochism - The Courier