A sex offender breached a court order when he befriended a mum at a foodbank and posed for a selfie with her 11-year-old daughter.
David Scott, known as Ritchie, previously admitted to asking underage teenagers to send him naked pictures and served two years in prison following the offence in 2017.
He’d sent two 13-year-old schoolgirls sexually explicit pictures of himself through Snapchat and repeatedly demanded naked images in return.
The 25-year-old was then placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and ordered not to communicate with anyone under the age of 16 for five years.
But Ritchie landed back in the dock after breaching the Sex Offences Prevention Order by being friendly with an 11-year-old girl who he met at an Aberdeenshire foodbank.
‘Laughing and joking’
Fiscal depute Ruaridh McAllister told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that Ritchie had met the girl’s mum while volunteering at the foodbank between June and August this year.
He was in the company of the woman and her daughter, aged 11, on various occasions but failed to tell them about his conviction or the court order still in place.
The fiscal said the woman saw Ritchie “making cups of tea and coffee for people” along with two children at a social event.
“She saw how they were all getting on well and laughing and joking”, he said. “During this occasion, the accused also sat at a table with them and chatted.”
Met young girl for ice cream
A matter of weeks later, Ritchie was invited to join one of the women from the foodbank at an ice cream parlour.
He agreed to join them, despite knowing that her daughter and another 11-year-old child would be there. Ritchie posed for a selfie there too, the court was told.
The same month, Ritchie accepted an offer of help with moving home from the 11-year-old girl’s mum who picked him up in her car with her daughter.
He also chatted with the same mother and daughter at a bus stop the same month.
“On August 20 2022 police officers carried out a home visit with the accused”, the fiscal added. “During this visit, several new ‘contacts’ were identified from a check of his mobile telephone.”
Two of these were the two ladies from the centre and he advised officers that he was “friendly with them both” but hadn’t told them about his Sex Offenders Prevention Order.
When a police officer later told Ritchie he must tell the 11-year-old’s mum about his order he “reluctantly agreed”.
But when officers checked in with the lady two days later he had failed to come clean to her.
“She told the officers the accused did speak to her the night before but she made it clear he did not disclose his conditions to her”, Mr McAllister explained.
“She was unaware he was prohibited from communicating with anyone under the age of 16.
“She appeared angry and upset about this and said that, if the accused had notified her of the Sex Offenders Prevention Order, she would have not allowed him anywhere near her daughter.”
‘A lonely individual’
Defence agent Leonard Burkinshaw represented Ritchie, who has been remanded in custody since August, and told the court his client “is a lonely individual”.
He appeared in the dock after being transported from HMP Grampian prison in Peterhead and admitted breaching his Sex Offences Prevention Order.
Mr Burkinshaw said Ritchie “finds it very difficult to make friends at all” and hasn’t been able to secure work because of his conviction.
“He is a lonely individual and this welfare centre was a place where he could volunteer”, the solicitor said.
“This welfare centre operates as a food bank and he was using its services. The manager there was made aware of his conditions.
“He was allowed to enter and to assist them by handing out teas and coffee to people there.
“The lady involved volunteers there as well and he accepts that he didn’t specifically tell her of his conditions. However, the manager was aware.
“He accepts it’s his obligation to tell each and every person.”
‘Paid a price’
Mr Burkinshaw added that Ritchie was never alone with the woman’s daughter or any other child under the age of 16.
“Albeit he didn’t inform them of the conditions, and that was important to do, he has paid a price for that.
“It was a friendship that he was clinging to. That has been difficult for him in the past and it will be going forward for him too.”
The defence lawyer accepted that jail was inevitable for his client but suggested it was “not the most heinous breach”.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin noted it was not the first time that Ritchie had breached his order and so a period of imprisonment was inevitable.
She jailed Ritchie, already a prisoner at HMP Grampian, for 12 months.
But the sentence was backdated to his remand date of August 2022.
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