A man who was snared by paedophile hunters held a knife to his chest during a doorstep confrontation broadcast live on Facebook.
In footage that has been viewed more than 20,000 times, Lossiemouth sex offender George Innes clutches a kitchen knife to his body and can be heard saying “my life is not worth living”.
The sting took place after Innes, 57, sent sexual messages and indecent images to a decoy profile that he believed was a 14-year-old girl called Savannah.
Innes has now appeared via videolink from custody at Inverness Sheriff Court and admitted a single charge of attempting to cause an older child to view a sexual image and attempting to communicate indecently with an older child.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair told the court that, on June 5 of this year, a member of the English paedophile hunting group Elite Predator Interceptors set up a decoy profile claiming to be a 14-year-old girl on an app called Rando Chat.
“That same day the accused initiated a conversation,” she said.
The decoy told Innes that she was just 14, after which he sent her a picture of his face and the pair began talking over WhatsApp.
For the next 18 days, Innes and ‘Savannah’ exchanged messages on a daily basis, with the chat soon becoming inappropriate and sexualised.
‘What bra size are you?’
Innes asked the decoy if she wore school uniform and whether she was going topless on holiday. He also repeatedly talked about her pyjamas and whether she was wearing any underwear.
The chat log also featured personal questions, including: “Do you mind chatting about sex?”, “What bra size are you?” and “Do you ever look at yourself naked in the mirror?”
Innes said they could “do anything you wanted” and suggested they might “cuddle” or “touch”.
Innes also sent ‘Savannah’ a total of 14 images over WhatsApp, which include images of his private parts, a picture of himself in underwear and a scar from a hernia operation, the court heard.
Logs of the chats were passed to the Scotland-based Wolfpack Hunter group, which travelled to Innes’ home in Lossiemouth to confront him.
When they explained why they were there, he replied: “Yeah, I shouldn’t have done it. I am sorry too.”
He also remarked that he had “ruined his life,” Mrs Gair said.
Paedophile held knife to chest
She said that Innes then went to his kitchen and when he returned to the front door he was holding a knife towards his chest.
“Due to having concerns the accused would harm himself the group removed the knife from him,” she added.
Police were contacted and Innes made “full admissions” during his interview.
Sheriff Sara Matheson called for pre-sentencing reports and placed Innes on the sex offenders’ register with immediate effect.
Innes’ solicitor Stephen Carty reserved his remarks in mitigation for sentencing, which will take place next month.
