A Nairn paedophile who told an internet decoy posing as a child that he found “girls your age group sexy” has been jailed for a year.
Harry Croft, 62, messaged a decoy posing as a 10 or 11-year-old child saying he liked young girls.
He made sexual comments and asked for naked photographs, suggesting the “child” obscure her face so that she could not be identified.
Croft appeared for sentencing at Inverness Sheriff Court having previously admitted a charge of sexually communicating with a person he believed to be a child under the age of 13 and causing them to look at a sexual image.
Nairn paedophile asked for naked photos
At an earlier hearing, fiscal depute Susan Love had told the court that the actual recipient of the messages Croft sent was a woman who “identifies people seeking contact with children on the internet”.
She said the woman had created a decoy profile with the username “offskoolsick” which had been contacted by Croft.
He told her if he was closer he would “offer to rub and kiss your stomach” before making a sexual comment.
Croft asked the decoy for her name and number and the conversations continued over WhatsApp, where he repeatedly asked for images of the girl naked and told her: “I find girls your age group sexy”.
He also sent images of a sexual nature and discussed engaging in sexual activity with her, despite being reminded of the age of the ‘girl’.
Facebook live stream
A group travelled to Croft’s then home in Glenelg Gardens, Nairn, to confront him and this was live-streamed over Facebook.
He was not at home when the group called but a person at the address answered the door and confirmed images sent to the decoy had been taken inside the property.
Police were called and information was handed over, resulting in Croft’s arrest for attempting to communicate indecently with a child.
In an interview with police Croft accepted he had contacted a person purporting to be a 10-year-old girl.
He denied the chat would have progressed to physical contact.
Investigations confirmed his mobile number matched the phone that had sent the messages, which had been deleted on the device.
A profile matching the one that had communicated with the decoy was found.
At the sentencing hearing, solicitor advocate Shahid Latif told Sheriff Sara Matheson that his client was currently serving a jail sentence imposed in England with his earliest release in March this year.
Sheriff Matheson jailed Croft for a year backdated to September 8, which would not delay his liberty.
She also placed him on the sex offender’s register for 10 years.
