A pervert who paid girls as young as 14 to share intimate videos and pictures over Snapchat has avoided prison.
Gregor Ramsay, 21, asked girls to video themselves urinating and even suggested they get their pets involved in some sick videos for his enjoyment.
He had just turned 16 when he asked two girls, aged 12 and 13 at the time, to send him naked pictures of themselves, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Fiscal depute Brian Young said this made the girls feel “uncomfortable” and both would try to change the subject.
However, Ramsay, then a fourth-year secondary school student, repeatedly sent them unwanted photos of his own private parts through the photo-sharing app Snapchat.
Later offered to pay girls
Ramsay, of Ellon, wasn’t charged following those messages in June 2016, but was caught out again when he repeated the behaviour. But this time he was 19 and willing to pay for his requested videos.
He targeted two friends in Wales, both aged 14 and unknown to him, and started chatting to them over Snapchat and teen dating app Yubo.
The fiscal explained how Ramsay asked the first girl to send him photos of her breasts and advised she could earn money, £15 to £20 per photo, by doing so.
The girl subsequently sent him between five and 10 photos of her face, breasts and body naked from the waist down and received money through Paypal in return.
However, she stopped when their chats took a turn in an unexpected direction.
“He asked her if she had animals and would she ever do anything to them to which she replied ‘no’,” the fiscal added.
This girl, too, received multiple photos of Ramsay’s private parts that she didn’t ask for.
‘I will pay for nudes’
Around the same time, Ramsay also sent messages to the other Welsh girl, first asking her if she would be interested in making money and telling her ‘I will pay for nudes’.
“They conversed and he would persistently ask for nudes,” Mr Young said. “She asked how she would be paid then sent 10 to 20 images over Snapchat of her face, breasts, vagina and bottom all taken within her home.
“He asked her to send videos of her carrying out a sex act on herself and for videos of her peeing herself.”
After the girl sent two videos of herself in the shower with her underpants on but urinating, Ramsay once again expressed his desire for pets to be involved.
The girl refused and blocked him.
The court was told that throughout all their conversations both girls told Ramsay they were 14 and he was “purported” to be 15.
Made promises of cash for pics
Over the course of one week, in February 2020, he paid one girl £87 and the other £230.
Ramsay, a marine engineer, admitted two charges of sending and asking for indecent images with girls under 13 and 16 in June 2020.
He also admitted two charges of sending and asking for indecent images with the promise of money to two girls under 16 between February 1 and 24 last year.
Defence agent Gail Goodfellow said Ramsay had a troubled time at school and was socially isolated during his teenage years.
He was belatedly diagnosed with depression last year.
Thought girls had crush on him
Regarding the earlier offences from 2016, she said: “Though he understands there’s no excuse for his behaviour there is a background as to how it came about.
“He says before he conversed with the girls on Snapchat they had created a group on WhatsApp and added into it. When he was added he saw they had shared photos of him from his sister’s Facebook page and he thought the girls had a crush on him.
“That could work as a catalyst for his behaviour.”
She said it was “unfortunate” he was not charged for these offences at the time as the supervision he would doubtless have been handed could have stopped any repetition of that behaviour.
She said Ramsay was bullied once the offences became public and his mental health was “very fragile”.
She said he met the Welsh girls after a spell on teen dating site Yubo where he was attempting to meet girls his own age.
Conversations started as ‘normal’
“He was not successful and unfortunately became involved with these two younger girls,” Ms Goodfellow added. “Through their conversation could initially be described as normal they changed once they became private on Snapchat.”
She said background reports and a psychiatric assessment showed Ramsay had taken “‘full responsibility for his behaviour”.
Sheriff Andrew Miller told Ramsay the charges were “extremely serious” but that an alternative to custody could be found given his age and lack of previous convictions.
Ramsay, of Woodlands Drive, Ellon, was handed 225 hours of unpaid work and a three-year supervision order.
He must also complete the Moving Forward: Making Changes therapy programme and was placed on the sex offenders register.
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