A man downloaded and distributed videos of children being sexually abused then sent disgusting messages to an undercover paedophile hunter.
Anthony Williams, 55, thought he was communicating with a young teenage girl when he sent a video of himself performing a sex act.
Williams, who previously lived in Kenneth Street, Inverness, but is understood to be now living in Drumnadrochit, was arrest by police and has now appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court, where he admitted causing a person pretending to be a child a sexual communication, attempting to cause an older child to look at sexual images and communicating indecently.
He also pleaded guilty to downloading and distributing indecent images of children at a house in Chattan Avenue, Inverness between September and October 2019.
The court was told that a volunteer member of a paedophile hunter group posed as a 12-year-old girl called Sophie on social media and was communicating with Williams.
‘A relief to him that he was caught’
The messages became increasingly sexualised and he said he wanted to meet her, fiscal depute Susan Love said.
During this time, Williams was also sexually communicating with a woman posing as 13-year-old called Amber, asking her for intimate photographs and sending her the video of him performing a sex act.
After Williams was arrested, his mobile phone was examined and the obscene videos were found and that they had been distributed.
Sentence was deferred until August 31 for a background report and Williams was placed on the Sex Offender’s Register. His bail was continued by Sheriff Margaret Neilson who warned him that jail was a possibility.
Defence solicitor advocate Shahid Latif told the Sheriff he would reserve his comments until then but added for his client “it was a matter of relief to him that he was caught”.