Corrupt East Lothian man exposed as criminal with 'disturbing past'

An East Lothian pervert who produced a vile recording with a young boy has been found to have a disturbing criminal past.

Anthony Knight, 38, pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing, taking or making indecent images of children on Wednesday. Edinburgh Live can reveal that in 2022, he also admitted to stealing a quantity of cash from a terminally ill pensioner.

He took the money from 84-year-old Kenneth Samuel while employed as a carer in Haddington. The incident was caught on film after the victim's family became suspicious.

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On Tuesday, Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told of category A material that specialist officers found in Anthony's home - which included images of newborn babies being sexually abused by adults and children being forced to engage in sexual acts with animals.

Fiscal depute Matthew Miller told the court police received intelligence McKnight was in possession of indecent images of children and arrived at his home with a search warrant at around 7am on June 26 this year. Mr Miller said the haul of sickening images were located in a hidden folder on his iPhone and following a forensic examination of the electronic devices material was found showing McKnight abusing a young boy.

McKnight met the boy while on a family holiday in Wales last year. Four short recordings were made of him abusing the child, as well as photos of the youngster while he carried out a solo sex act which he shared online.

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Two years ago, he was snared for stealing a pensioner's cash after the victim's daughter set up a camera trap as she had begun noticing her father was either "misplacing or losing" small sums of money.

The shocking footage proved the despicable carer was stealing the money and he was subsequently reported to the police. He admitted to a charge of stealing a quantity of cash from 84-year-old Kenneth Samuel while employed as a carer at an address in Haddington, East Lothian, on June 21, 2021.

McKnight was then fined £110 and ordered to pay compensation of £100 during an appearance at Edinburgh Justice of the Peace Court in December 2022.

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Speaking about the incident to Edinburgh Live at the time, Caroline said: "We assumed he had given it to the grandkids but my sister has always had these old dog cams to keep an eye on him if he fell or was at home alone.

"One day she switched it on before Anthony visited and took the red light off it so he wouldn't know it was recording him. Clear as day, Anthony was caught going into my dad's drawer right beside where he was sitting and lifting money from what we call my dad's wallet, which was just an old file.

"He lifted it out, put it in his pocket then left to go to the bathroom or faffed about for a bit."