An Aberdeenshire man has been placed on the sex offender’s register after he was caught by paedophile hunters chatting to what he believed to be five underage girls.
Michael Burr, 57, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted communicating with decoy Facebook accounts created in order to snare men chatting to children online.
Burr asked the 13 and 14-year-old ‘children’ for naked pictures of themselves and sent indecent pictures of himself.
The court heard the former Inverurie resident stated to one decoy, who he thought was 13: “Do you want to chat to an old man?”
He also told a number of the girls to keep their conversations a “secret” between them.
Fiscal depute Carol Gammie told the court that between September 5 and September 23 last year Burr sexually communicated with the five decoy accounts on Facebook from an address in Inverurie.
She stated that the photographs used on the accounts are “clearly” those of girls under 16.
On September 5 last year, Burr approached a decoy called ‘Cassie’ who identified herself as 13 and immediately stated: “You are a young girl, do you want to chat to an old man?”
He then requested that the girl send naked pictures of her body and sent her a picture of his private parts.
On September 10, Burr, who claimed to be an oil and gas worker, began chatting to a second 14-year-old decoy called ‘Penny Louise’, asking her for pictures by stating “would you like to share your body?”
He then forwarded a picture of his own private parts.
Third decoy called Sky
Four days later, Burr started a conversation with a third decoy called ‘Sky’ by stating “do you like chatting to older men?”
He also asked the girl if she was “going through puberty” and requested a picture of her in her pyjamas.
On September 16, Burr messaged a fourth girl called ‘Bethany’, who he thought was 14, and stated: “Would you join me in the shower? You could wash me and I could wash you?”
He thereafter asked for a naked picture and sent her an indecent picture of himself.
Asked ‘Stacey’ for bath pictures
Between September 15 and September 23, Burr was also chatting to a fifth girl called ‘Stacey’.
He told the 14-year-old “I like to look at girls” and that he would like to see pictures of her in the shower and the bath.
Burr once again sent a picture of his private parts.
On September 27, the paedophile hunter group members went to Burr’s home and contacted the police.
Today, Burr pleaded guilty to five charges of sending sexual communications to what he believed to be girls under 16 for the purposes of sexual gratification.
‘Something that’s deeply troubling that needs examination’
Defence agent Graham Morrison told the court that “this is clearly a very serious and complicated charge”.
“It’s made much worse by his lack of assistance with the social work department – he hasn’t been forthcoming with them.
“They recognise there’s something that’s deeply troubling that needs examination by a forensic psychologist.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin deferred sentence on Burr, of Lumphanan, in order for a psychological risk assessment to be carried out.
She added: “It’s important that you fully co-operate and that you’re fully honest with the social work department given the high likelihood of a custodial sentence for an offence of this seriousness.”
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