A man who created a fake online dating profile to claim he was engaging in sexual activities with children yesterday avoided prison.
Bryan Miller, 51, was given a three-year supervision order and put on the sex offenders register for three years.
He admitted making sick claims to a man he was chatting up online in what appeared to be an effort to persuade the near stranger to engage in sordid activities.
Using the profile name “Ben Miller,” he spoke to a man from Yorkshire on two sites on August 30 last year.
During these conversations, he began engaging in what Elgin Sheriff Court was told were “dark fantasies”.
Man used dating app to lie to prospective date about engaging in sexual activity with children
Miller sent the man messages in which he asked if he wanted to engage in sexual acts with boys.
The hypothetical acts, he wrote, would include children aged between nine and 11 and would include another adult.
However, after they made provisional arrangements to meet up, the other man blocked him and reported him to the police.
Officers investigated Miller’s claims and found that he had no genuine access to children and that his online comments were a “dark fantasy”.
Depute Fiscal Alex Swain had described at a previous hearing that when police attended Miller’s home they found it empty, but a neighbour confirmed that Miller and his partner had no children.
She said: “When a search warrant was later executed, Miller admitted to chatting with the man online.
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“He was asked to identify all the devices in the house that belonged to him.
“His partner had no knowledge of the conversations that been going on.”
Defence solicitor Iain Maltman insisted that the criminal justice report published on his client’s behalf explained his actions fully and “he was taking this matter very seriously”.
Sheriff Gary Aitken described the incident as “a very serious matter” but decided on a supervision order as a direct alternative to custody.
He said: “You will be challenged robustly about your attitudes and any breach you commit will cause you to come back here and you will be given a significant custodial sentence.”
Miller, of Kellas in Elgin, had previously pled guilty to a charge of intentionally sending or directing a sexual communication at another without consent.
