A Moray man is facing jail after attempting to befriend a teenager online and lying about having explicit photographs of her.
Christopher Jamieson, 30, approached a 15-year-old he had never met via Facebook, and asked her to be his friend on the social media site.
The alarmed youngster informed her mother, who rejected Jamieson’s request and asked why he had contacted her child.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Jamieson told the woman he had previously spoken with the teenager online, and that she had sent him indecent photographs of herself.
Fiscal Kevin Corrins said: “On Sunday, April 10, the 15-year old received a friend request from an account identified as belonging to the accused.
“Her mother thereafter declined that request, and asked Jamieson what his intentions had been.
“The accused responded at 7.45pm on Friday, April 15, claiming to know the teenager well and saying that she had previously sent him explicit photographs of herself while stating she was 18.”
The woman was left “upset and angry” by the claim and reported the matter to the police.
When interviewed, Jamieson confessed that he had never received any photographs from the child in question.
Jamieson, of 8a Nelson Terrace, Keith, later admitted a charge of causing “annoyance and needless anxiety” by sending messages he knew to be false.
His agent, solicitor Robert Cruickshank, said alcohol had “become an issue” for Jamieson.
He added: “My client acknowledges that this is unacceptable behaviour.”
Jamieson narrowly avoided a prison term when he appeared at the court in January, after sending chilling text messages threatening to kill a woman he had become infatuated with.
During a sick campaign against Angela Russell, he alternated between seeking her affections and making obscene threats against her and her family.
At the time, Sheriff Chris Dickson said he “could easily” have jailed Jamieson – but instead ordered him to perform 300 hours of community service by January 2017.
Yesterday, the court learned that Jamieson had thus far completed only 66 hours.
Mr Cruickshank said he was aware that his client could now face a period in jail.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov deferred sentence for three months, and said that if Jamieson could complete more hours of unpaid work she would consider an alternative sentence to imprisonment.
