A paedophile who was banned from approaching young boys defied the court order when he offered to pay a 13-year-old hundreds of pounds for sexually explicit pictures.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that 29-year-old Iain Wright tried to groom the teenage boy and was willing to pay him to carry out a sex act.
Wright, who was in homeless accommodation in Inverness at the time, has now been jailed for a total of 24 months by Sheriff Sara Matheson, who described him as “a high risk”.
She backdated the sentence to the date of remand which was February 12.
Wright appeared by video link for sentence after a background report had been prepared in which he protested his innocence despite having already pleaded guilty.
His solicitor, Marc Dickson, said his client suffered from “anxiety” and had a panic attack during the interview, leading to his denial.
As the sheriff clerk repeated Sheriff Matheson’s sentence, which included placing Wright on the sex offender’s register for 10 years, Wright stormed out of the prison video room.
Cash offer for nude pictures of boy
Fiscal depute Emily Hood previously told the court that on January 13 this year the child was alone in the city centre when he met Wright – who he did not know – sitting on the ground near the alleyway outside Poundland on the High Street.
Wright, who had a donation cup and a backpack, told the boy he was homeless and during the conversation they exchanged telephone numbers.
On February 9 of this year, the boy received a text message from Wright offering him £100 for the sex act.
Ms Hood said: “The complainer had a rough idea of what he wanted and knew it was something sexual. He felt uncomfortable and didn’t want to do anything like that.”
The boy then received a further message in which Wright upped the offer to £200. The boy again refused.
“The accused went on to send more texts asking for a pic and stating ‘£250 for a nude’,” Ms Hood told the court.
A later message offered £400 for a picture of the boy’s genitals.
The following day the boy revealed to support workers that he was planning to meet with a man who was going to give him £100 – but could not explain why.
One of them saw a text from the accused that read: “As discussed you will get £100.”
Indecent images found on phone
Support workers decided to secretly follow the boy on his way to meet Wright at the Greig Street Bridge.
However, they lost sight of him but he was traced to the bus station where he said he was going to meet Wright in Tomatin.
Police were informed.
Wright admitted sending indecent communications to the youngster.
He also admitted downloading and possessing indecent images of boys aged from one to approximately 12 on his mobile phone.
