A Forres man was snared by a paedophile hunting group after trying to groom young girls to send him indecent photographs of themselves.
But they were decoys from the “Hunting Online Predators Everyday” group, known as ‘Hope.’ It was only when a “sting operation” was being planned to confront Kevin Johnston with their evidence, hunters realised he was their target in two separate decoy missions.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that after police raided his home in Califer Road and seized phones and a computer, it was discovered that he had also targeted other under-age girls.
The court was told that two of them could not be traced. It is not known if they were also decoys.
Johnston did not appear before Sheriff Elidh Macdonald. Instead, his lawyer, Grant Daglish tendered guilty pleas to communicating sexually with children or people he believed to be children between March 25 and July 4 last year.
Mr Daglish reserved his comments until sentencing on April 29. Sheriff Macdonald ordered a background report and assessments of Johnston’s suitability for a rehabilitation programme and a restriction of liberty order. His bail was continued.
He was immediately placed on the Sex Offender’s Register.
Fiscal depute Robert Weir said the decoys made it clear on websites how old they were pretending to be and did not initiate sexual communications.
Mr Weir added: “He claimed he was not sexually attracted to children, he was merely bored and did not consider the consequences of his actions.”