A child predator has been given unpaid work after exposing himself in a video call to what he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
Craig Ewing was snared by organised online child protection team Dank Dragon that set up an online profile pretending to be a child.
In a string of disturbing messages, the 42-year-old talked about being “horny”, asked for topless pictures and exposed himself.
Ewing, of Mansefield Place, Aberdeen, previously pled guilty to attempting to cause an older child between 13 and 16 to view a sexual image and to communicate indecently with an older child.
‘He meandered onto sites which bring him before the court’
A detailed description of the offence was read to the court on a previous occasion, and now, he has returned to the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to be sentenced.
Defence agent Mike Monro said: “My client has been on his own, at home, on the internet.
“He was on totally legal pornographic websites.
“He then meandered onto sites which bring him before the court.
“Had he simply looked at that and gone ‘no, I’m having nothing to do with it’, we wouldn’t be here.”
However, Ewing did not stop and went on to contact the account of the vigilante group posing as a 14-year-old.
‘Online abuse of children and young people destroys lives’
Mr Monro said the first-offender had pled guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Sheriff Lesley Johnston said: “At the time, you thought you were communicating with a 14-year-old and proceeded to engage in highly sexual conversations.
“Online abuse of children and young people destroys lives and causes harm within families and communities.”
As a direct alternative to custody, she ordered Ewing to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and the Aberdeenshire Sex Offenders Programme.
The sheriff also imposed 18 months of supervision and placed him on the register for the same period.
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