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A troubled Angus transgender person told police about a haul of indecent images because they wanted to live in jail, a court heard.

First offender Kieran Rodriguez was found by police making suicide threats, after the Arbroath resident downloaded more than 1,000 images of children.

Rodriguez appeared on indictment at Forfar Sheriff Court, where Sheriff Pino di Emidio heard the 21-year-old had been bullied from a young age and wanted to go to prison to escape.

Depute fiscal Jill Drummond said: “At 8am on September 29 2014 a call was received by police from the accused’s mother, who said she was concerned for his life after she had received a Facebook message from him.

“It said: ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t be a good daughter to you’.”

The password to a computer was given and Rodriguez messaged: “It contains two text documents with my final feelings.”

Ms Drummond added: “The accused is transgender and appears to be struggling with their emotions.”

When officers attended a knife was pointed at Rodriguez’s chest and the accused had “superficial cuts” to the left arm.

The fiscal said Rodriguez pulled out a laptop from behind furniture and said: “I’ll show you. I have a few hundred images of children on my laptop.”

Rodriguez was taken to the Mulberry Unit at Stracathro Hospital near Brechin for observation and was left in the care of staff there. The accused was detained by police after being released from hospital.

Ms Drummond added: “The accused stated they had been downloading images for a few years, in the hope they would be imprisoned… The accused wanted a roof over his head.”

Police found a total of 1,155 indecent images across the scale of seriousness, the majority of which 668 were at the lowest end.

Defending, solicitor Hamish Watt said he anticipated a standard report would be “the very least” of those needed for appropriate sentencing.

“This is a young person who has been subjected, from an early age, to bullying,” Mr Watt told the court.

“The way in which my client has sought to come to the attention of the court is bizarre and unusual.”

Sheriff di Emidio deferred sentence to May 28 for a psychological assessment as well as criminal justice social work reports.

Rodriguez, of Newton Avenue, will attend the Tay Project and be subject to notification requirements of the sex offenders register in the meantime.

The Crown moved for forfeiture of the laptop, an Apple Mac, memory stick, PC tower and a power cable, and this was continued for further investigation.