A child porn “addict” was unmasked as a sexual predator of young girls one of his victims spotted his court appearance on social media.
One of Liam Mackay’s victims was shown a Facebook post about the 28-year-old being sentenced for possessing and downloading thousands of indecent images of children.
The girl, now a young woman, ran out of the room in tears and was sick before confessing to her aunt that Mackay had sex with her when she was 14.
Her confession was later told to police and it led to the discovery of another girl Mackay had sexual activity with in 2012.
Yesterday at Inverness Sheriff Court, Mackay, of Deas Avenue, Dingwall admitted having under age sex and engaging in sex activity with under age girls between December, 2010 and December, 2012.
Sentence was deferred for a background report by Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood and Mackay will re-appear on March 15.
Sheriff Fleetwood had previously sentenced Mackay in 2016.
He told him then he was considering a jail sentence for his “deviant sexual practices.”
The Sheriff had been told by defence lawyer Pauline Chapman that her client had become “addicted” to child pornography after accidentally accessing it.
Sheriff Fleetwood commented: “It is difficult to become an addict. You have to keep doing something to become addicted to it.”
Yesterday, fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart told the court that Mackay, who was then aged around 20, worked at a local supermarket and befriended girls outside the store.
He said the first victim became friends with Mackay on Facebook before swapping mobile numbers.
“On one occasion when she was staying overnight with her aunt she said that she was going out with friends.
“She thereafter met Mackay who drove her to a house in Dingwall where they began kissing which developed into sexual intercourse.”
Mr Urquhart added that Mackay’s second victim had been contacted by police as a result of their investigation into that incident.
“It seems that she too used to frequent Tesco’s. and became friends with him on Facebook and exchanged mobile phone numbers. On one occasion he met the girl in an area known as Maggie’s Wood in Dingwall.”
Mr Urquhart said that Mackay kissed her and then showed her how to perform a sex act on him.