A man who requested “naughty chat without jail” when he messaged what he believed was a 14-year-old girl has been placed on the sex offenders register.
Alan Sutherland appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted sending explicit sexual messages to a child decoy account created by a member of a paedophile hunter group.
Using an online chat app, the 41-year-old sent a series of sexual messages that included asking the teenager to send him pictures of her in a school uniform.
Sutherland, an engineer, also sent the child decoy naked pictures of himself as well as graphic sexual messages.
Accused said he didn’t mind girl being 14
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton told the court that on January 19 2022, a member of the group Dank Dragon received a message to a profile they had created of a 14-year-old girl called ‘Liana’.
Sutherland told Liana that his name was Alister from Inverness and said that he was 37 years old.
The conversation soon turned sexual with Sutherland asking the girl if she had ever touched her private parts and requesting she send a picture of herself in her school uniform.
On February 8, Sutherland sent further messages to the profile asking again what age she was, to which she replied she was 14.
“Maybe a little old for you, ha” Sutherland replied.
Liana asked, “do you mind my age”, to which Sutherland replied “na, it’s cool”.
He then went on to send graphic sexual messages regarding his own sexual experiences.
On March 4, Sutherland messaged the same decoy account but using a new name ‘Jay’ and stating people using the chat app might want “naughty chat without jail”.
When Liana asked what he meant by that, Sutherland stated “because of your age”.
He then went on to encourage her to Google sexual terms and send him screenshots of the results.
Told police he wasn’t attracted to kids
On April 15, the decoy profile operator contacted the police to report Sutherland’s online activity and hand over copies of the conversations with Liana.
Police executed a search warrant at Sutherland’s address in Drumoak and seized his electronic devices.
During a police interview, Sutherland admitted using the chat app and said he had been using it to speak to females for the last 18 months.
He initially denied chatting with anyone under the age of 16, stating that he would “send pleasantries” before blocking them.
During questioning, he said he recalled speaking to ‘Liana’ but could not give any reason for communicating sexually with her other than out of boredom.
Sutherland confirmed the images within the chat were of him and that he had sent them, but he denied being attracted to children.
In the dock, Sutherland pleaded guilty to one charge of communicating with what he believed was a child for sexual gratification.
Defence solicitor Stuart Beveridge chose to save his mitigation for Sutherland’s sentencing hearing and called for background reports to be carried out on his client.
Sheriff Ian Wallace deferred sentence on Sutherland, of Mineralwell View, Stonehaven, until next month in order for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out.
He also placed Sutherland on the sex offenders register.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.
