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A former retained firefighter has admitted directing sex attacks and rapes of young girls in the Philippines from his home in the Highlands.

Gary Campbell, 59, from Lochinver, paid for child abuse to be carried out by adults as he watched and recorded it via a livestream.

Among the victims was a girl thought be as young as four.

Campbell, who admitted 13 charges at the High Court in Edinburgh, will be sentenced next month.

The offences were committed between June 2012 and August 2014.

The court heard that police raided Campbell's home in May 2021 in connection with a child sex abuse investigation.

The investigation was triggered by the discovery that he had made a series of payments to a Filipino woman who had been arrested for livestreaming child sexual abuse online.

Officers found recorded videos which showed Campbell watching sexual assaults being committed on children in "real time" and giving instructions to the adults carrying out the abuse.

Advocate depute Margaret Barron told the court a number of devices were seized from Campbell's home and found to contain child sexual abuse material.

Campbell was remanded in custody and has been placed on the sex offenders register.