A 64-year-old sex pest was snared by a vigilante group after bombarding what he thought was a 13-year-old girl with requests for “school uniform” photos.
Sick George McIntosh even admitted he was “old enough to be the granddad” of the intended recipient of the messages.
McIntosh was placed on the sex offenders register when he appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday having been caught out by a woman who was using a decoy profile in order to lure predators into a trap.
The 64-year-old sent a number of explicit messages asking what he thought was a young teenager called Melissa Taylor from Yorkshire.
He actually was speaking to an adult named Maria Johnson, who is part of the self-styled Child Online Protection Team.
Fiscal depute Lynne McVicar said McIntosh sent the first message on Christmas Day in 2018 and continued the communication until New Year’s Day.
She said: “A message which read ‘hello’ was sent from a profile named George McIntosh. The conversation progressed.”
The court heard that the communication continued on Boxing Day, with the older man asking sexually explicit questions and requesting images.
The woman posing as Melissa Taylor informed another individual involved with the Child Online Protection Team about the development, and the communications with McIntosh.
Ms Johnson was able to obtain a telephone number of the accused, Ms McVicar explained.
The exchange continued, with the Aberdeen man sending more obscene messages.
McIntosh then asked if “Melissa” could “send a picture in school uniform” and acknowledged he was “old enough to be your granddad”.
On January 1, 2019, Ms Johnson took screenshots of the conversation and sent them to one of her counterparts who, along with several other volunteers, confronted McIntosh the following day in Aberdeen.
Ms McVicar said: “They filmed him and the accused was identified from his Facebook profile, he stated he knew he had been set up.”
McIntosh was arrested and admitted to sending “sexual written communication”, attempting to “communicate indecently with a child” for the purposes of “obtaining sexual gratification”.
Sheriff Ian Wallace placed McIntosh, of Parkhill Court in Dyce, on the sex offenders register.
He will appear in the dock again next month for sentencing.
