A Lossiemouth sex offender who held a knife to his chest after being confronted by paedophile hunters live on Facebook has told a court his actions have “ruined his life”.
Video footage of George Innes, 57, clutching a knife to his body has been viewed more than 20,000 times on the social media platform, showing him saying: “My life is not worth living”.
The sting took place after Innes sent sexual messages and indecent images to a decoy profile that he thought was a 14-year-old girl called Savannah.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Innes messaged the decoy account on numerous occasions over an 18-day period.
Despite believing he was speaking to a teenager, Innes asked the girl about her underwear and sent more than a dozen images of his private parts.
The court was told that at, a previous hearing, Innes had refused to apply for bail, meaning he spent months in custody.
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 and the chat soon became inappropriate and sexualised.
Accused wanted to ‘cuddle’ or ‘touch’
Innes asked the decoy if she wore a 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 told the decoy 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 included images of his private parts, a picture of himself in underwear and a scar from a hernia operation, the court heard.
Innes held knife towards his chest
Logs of the chats were passed to the Scotland-based Wolfpack Hunter group, which travelled to Innes’ home in Lossiemouth to confront him.
The group filmed the operation, which was broadcast live on Facebook.
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.
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 then contacted and Innes made “full admissions” during his interview.
Innes 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.
Defence agent Stephen Carty told the court his client had already served the equivalent of a 10-month jail sentence by making the decision not to apply for bail.
Sheriff Sara Matheson ordered Innes to be under social work supervision for three years and placed him on the sex offenders register for the same period.
He must also participate in a sex offender’s rehabilitation programme.
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