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A TWISTED former policeman and his lover plotted to conceive a baby – to abuse, rape and share with other paedophiles.

Disgraced Alexander McCracken and his then girlfriend Sharon Campbell shared vile fantasies of raping and murdering children online.

And police who raided McCracken’s home found hundreds of hardcore child porn images which they had distributed to fellow child sex beasts.

The pair were last night both behind bars awaiting sentence for their appalling crimes, which have chilling echoes of the case of jailed Lost Prophets front man Ian Watkins.

McCracken, 35, had spent nine years with Strathclyde Police before being exposed in 2010 as a swinger and £400-a-night bisexual prostitute.

At Ayr Sheriff Court on Tuesday, it was revealed his shame had not stopped his addiction to the seedy side of sex.

And instead of consenting adults, he now chose to prey on helpless children.

He and Campbell admitted three charges of possessing and distributing indencent images of children. John Bradford, prosecuting, said cybercrime experts found 551 such images in Yahoo Messenger chat files after police swooped on McCracken’s home in Ayr in January last year.

Almost all these pictures were passed among paedophiles between July 2012 and October 2013 – and 33 were category five, the most depraved possible.

Bradford said: “The images are predominantly of young girls, with the majority being newborn, babies and toddlers with a few up to about the age of eight.

“The chat indicates that the user has a predilection to violently sexually abuse these infants to death, or allow others do do so.

“The communications include content of a paedophilic nature, comments on the rape and killing of newborn babies and what purports to be a couple trying for a baby so that they can sexually abuse her.”

(Image: Iain Brown)

The usernames “sleazyperv79” and “NepicoupleUK” were linked to the computer and mobile used by McCracken.

Computer experts found apps including Internet Relay Chat, Yahoo Messenger and Gigatribe had been used.

Precise details of much of what was typed during these communications using a variety of identities are too abhorrent to publish.

One, from a user linked to McCracken’s computer, says: “Oh would deffo rape a little baby girl.”

When asked if his girlfriend would let him, the reply was: “It’s the wife typing lol. I would help him lol.”

Another message suggested they would breed a “baby toy” now and abuse it “as soon as born”.

During an exchange, “sleazyperv79” wrote: “Three month old getting molesting … I hope he snuffed her eventually.”

Other extreme images found on McCracken’s computer included adults engaging in sexual activity with horses and dogs.

Police burst into McCracken’s home on January 10 last year after being alerted by the National Online Child Abuse Protection service.

They seized a computer and smartphone before taking the couple to separate police stations, where they gave “no comment”interviews.

A source close to the inquiry said:”It was a national online child protection package. That is how it came to light.”

Police have refused to elaborate on the mechanics of how McCracken was identified so as not to alert other paedophiles to their tactics.

Campbell, 39, was a support worker for elderly people with mental health problems at a care home in Ayr. Her lawyer, Peter Lockhart, said she was now unemployed and was no longer with McCracken.

He told the court: “This is a frankly shocking and appalling offence and she recognises that. She has co-operated fully throughout and there is no getting away from it that a custodial sentence must be uppermost in your mind.”

McCracken’s lawyer Jill Malloy said he complied fully with strict bail conditions and had no unsupervised contact with females under 16 and no internet use where history could be hidden.

He has a 10-year-old son with whom he has no contact.

She added that he had lost his job as a factory production worker.

Sheriff Scott Pattison called for reports before sentencing next month. He said: “These offences are of the utmost seriousness. You are fortunate you have been prosecuted in the sheriff court.”

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