Former Falkirk chairman admits possessing obscene videos of dogs

The former chairman of Falkirk Football Club has been placed on the sex offenders’ register after being caught possessing a video of sexual activity with a dog.

Gary Deans, 62, who resigned from the club in December 2021 citing “personal and family reasons”, also admitted downloading child abuse material.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard that Deans’ then home in Brightons, Falkirk, was raided by police armed with a search warrant at 7.50 am on February 10, 2023.

Officers found “multiple electronic devices”, and Deans cooperated by providing their passwords.

Forensic examination of a hard drive connected to a laptop found 15 still images and 15 video files of extreme pornography with creation dates between February and May 2022.

Officers also found 18 still images and six videos featuring child sexual exploitation, some of them of the most serious kind and featuring as young as four.

Prosecutor Ronnie Hay told the court that the “extreme pornography” depicted sexual acitivty between a man and a dog.

He said: “Detective constable Roberts confirmed that the dog was similar to Mr Dean’s dog at the time the search warrant was executed.”

Deans told detective constable Kieron Roberts: “I was in a chat room and someone sent me images. I deleted them and I never sent them on.”

Mr Hay said that Deans later told police he had viewed the child sexual abuse material “after engaging in online sexual communication with an unknown female”.

Deans, now of Rumbling Bridge, Perthshire, a former chartered accountant with KPMG, pled guilty to possessing extreme porn and downloading child abuse material.

Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane deferred sentence for reports until April 22.

She warned Deans: “You are now subject to the notification requirements of the sex offenders’ register.”

Deans was granted bail and made no comment as he left the court.