A paedophile told an internet decoy posing as a child that he found “girls your age group sexy”, a court has heard.
Harry Croft, 62, messaged a profile purporting to be a 10 or 11-year-old child and told her he likes young girls.
He made sexual comments to the decoy and asked her for naked photographs, suggesting she obscure her face so that she could not be identified.
Croft appeared via videolink from custody at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit 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.
Decoy posed as child online
Fiscal depute Susan Love told the court that the actual recipient of the messages was a woman who “identifies people seeking contact with children on the internet”.
She said the woman had created a decoy profile for the girl with the username “offskoolsick” which had then been contacted by Croft who told her if he was closer he would “offer to rub and kiss your stomach” before making a sexual comment.
He asked the decoy for her name and number and the conversations continued over WhatsApp.
Over the course of the communication Croft 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 was then assembled to confront Croft at his home in Glenelg Gardens, Nairn, and this was live-streamed over Facebook.
Croft was not at home when the group called but a person at the address answered the door and confirmed that 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 communicating indecently with a child.
During his police interview, Croft accepted that he had contacted a person purporting to be a 10-year-old girl but denied any chat would have progressed to physical contact.
An examination of his mobile confirmed the number was a match to the phone that had sent the messages.
Messages had been deleted but a profile matching the one that had communicated with the decoy was found.
Solicitor Clare Russell, for Croft, invited the court to call for reports before proceeding to sentence.
Sheriff Sara Matheson ordered a criminal justice social work report and an assessment for the Moving Forward Making Changes programme – designed to address sexual offending.
She told Croft, whose address was given as being a “prisoner”: “Your name will now be placed on the sex offenders register.”
The case will call again in December.
