A hospital worker who had access to the personal details and medical history of thousands of patients is behind bars after being caught with a haul of child sex abuse images – and people having sex with dogs.

Christopher Anderson, 29, who worked in the records department at Ayrshire’s Crosshouse Hospital, had over 5,000 images of children as young as two-years-old being abused.

He was also caught with images of adults engaged in sex acts with dogs after police raided his home in Rubie Crescent, Irvine, and seized his laptop.

Twisted Anderson also kept thousands of images on his phone – and even carried two USB drives around with him that were crammed full of abuse files.

He was arrested at his work and taken to the police station to be questioned – where officers discovered the files were just the tip of the iceberg due to his mobile phone and his memory sticks.

The details emerged on Monday when Anderson appeared in the dock at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court to plead guilty over his sordid stash.

He pleaded guilty to three charges – making child abuse images, possessing the illicit files, and being in possession of “extreme pornographic material” by having bestiality files, between March 2012 and September last year.

He admitted his guilt after the date he began making and possessing the files was changed from being March 2004, when he was just 14.

Procurator Fiscal Depute Peter Moyes said officers found a total of 4,957 still images and 195 films across the four devices, many of which were at the most extreme level there is, and he was also found to have four still images featuring adults and dogs.

Sheriff Alistair Watson blasted Anderson for his actions and told him he is facing a lengthy jail term, before remanding him in custody ahead of sentencing and placing him on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

As he adjourned the case until next month and called for background reports and a risk assessment to be carried out on Anderson, Sheriff Watson said: “On any view the number and nature of images in this case renders this to be a disgusting and debase course of conduct.

“It is highly likely you will receive a custodial sentence and highly likely that is of a significant length.

“I want a full risk assessment to be carried out in relation to you.”

Patricia Leiser, Human Resources Director for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, confirmed Anderson “no longer works” at Crosshouse.

She said: “NHS Ayrshire & Arran takes all matters to do with staff and patient safety and confidentiality extremely seriously.

“On being alerted to this issue, we can confirm we took immediate action and this individual no longer works for NHS Ayrshire & Arran.”