A Fort Augustus man who was snared by paedophile hunters posing as young girls has had a string of restrictions placed on him to prevent him from being a danger to children.
George Henderson, 63, appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court after admitting sexually communicating and sending indecent images to who he thought were young teenage girls in Scotland and England.
Henderson, of Abertarff Place, in the Loch Ness village, admitted three offences, involving the explicit messages and photographs he sent to three women posing as 13 and 14-year-old girls.
Sheriff Sara Matheson decided against jailing Henderson but ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work.
He was placed under two years of social work supervision as well as on the sex offender’s register for the same period.
In addition, the sheriff instructed him to provide details of all internet enabled devices he owns, or may own, to social workers or police and allow any history to be checked and not deleted.
‘Disgusting’ offences
He was also banned from being in contact with children under the age of 16 unless it was unavoidable.
She told Henderson: “These are serious offences which all right-thinking people in society will feel are disgusting.”
The court heard that the offences took place between January 9 2021 and March 8 2021.
Henderson used Facebook Messenger to open dialogue with two decoys from the Kilmarnock-based Forbidden Scotland group and one from Derby-based STOP.
Both organisations submitted their dossier on Henderson to the police, who obtained a search warrant for his house and executed it on April 12 2021.
Officers took possession of his mobile phone, which contained the evidence.
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court that Henderson would make comments about the “girls'” body parts, including genitalia, kissing and sexual activity.
He also sent several images of naked women and male genitalia to the decoys.
However, Henderson made little attempt to hide his tracks or his age.
Sheriff Matheson was told he used a profile in his own name and indicated to at least one girl he was 60 years of age.
“When arrested, he told officers: ‘I know there are young girls on my computer.’ ” Mr Morton added.
He went on to say that Henderson confessed to his wife that he was “talking to young girls online.”
Defence solicitor Duncan Henderson said: “He accepts these are significant offences but fortunately no serious harm has been done.”
