A man who sent a picture of his naked private parts to a 16-year-old on Facebook showed “poor judgement” a court has been told.
Jamie Leather forwarded the image over the social media network during what was an otherwise “pedestrian” conversation, causing the teenager to block him and inform her parents, who contacted the police.
Leather, 33, appeared for sentencing at Tain Sheriff Court having previously pled guilty to a single charge of sending a grossly offensive message over a public electronic communications network.
Fiscal depute Hilary Michopoulou told the court that the offence took place on the morning of March 30 2020.
Pic sent during ‘pedestrian’ conversation
She said: “The complainer received a Facebook message from Mr Leather. It was a fairly pedestrian conversation between them and after some time Mr Leather sent a picture to the complainer.”
The picture of his penis did not include Leather’s face, but he sent a subsequent photo that did confirmed his identity.
“The complainer blocked the accused and spoke to her parents who decided to speak to the police,” Mrs Michopoulou said.
Accused ‘bitterly regrets’ actions
Solicitor Rory Gowans, for Leather, told the court that his client “bitterly regrets” his actions.
He said Leather, of Muldearg Road, Fearn, had suffered from “significant medical difficulties since 2016”, which included both physical and mental health issues.
He said: “It was clearly poor judgement from him to say the very least.”
Sheriff Aitken told Leather that his actions constituted “exceedingly poor judgement that needs to be remedied to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
He placed Leather on a community payback order with 12 months supervision.
