A high-risk sex offender who was jailed for raping a teenage girl and leaving her tied to a tree has been secretly meeting women in Aberdeen, a court has heard.
Leon Pedley, 32, was described as one of the most serious sex offenders in Scotland as he appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, where he admitted meeting a female on a dating website by using a fake name.
However, when he arranged to meet the female in Aberdeen, she brought along her friend, which Pedley neglected to disclose to police and was deemed a breach of his sex offenders prevention order.
It was stated that Pedley was jailed for a similar offence in April this year, which also involved dating sites and concealing the fact he was in contact with females from his monitoring officers.
Dispute over money
Fiscal depute Kirsty Martin told the court that as part of his sex offenders prevention order (SOPO), Pedley must inform police of any contact or relationship he has with women.
This includes face-to-face contact, over the internet, social media or by telephone.
At around 1.13pm on May 31 this year, Pedley contacted the police to report that he was in Aberdeen and that he had been on a date with a woman but there had been a dispute regarding money.
He then terminated the call but called back at 2.08pm to report the same incident.
Police traced him to Union Street, where he told the officers he had arranged to go on a date with a woman but when he met her, he saw that she had brought along a friend.
It was established that Pedley was not the victim of any crime.
“Police were aware of the existence of an interim SOPO preventing undisclosed contact with females and suspected he was in breach of this condition,” Ms Martin said.
“He was arrested and his phone seized. He was conveyed to Kittybrewster Custody Suite and under caution stated he had been using the dating application seeking.com under the name ‘Nate’ and had been messaging a girl.
“Enquiries were undertaken and the accused’s telephone was examined under the authority of his Interim SOPO.”
The communication on seeking.com was discovered but it was noted that he had advised his monitoring officer that he had been chatting online with a female – he had not stated they intended to meet.
He had made no mention of a second female.
Women claim Pedley wanted sex
CCTV enquiries were carried out that showed Pedley with the two women at various locations around the city, including a restaurant in Union Square.
The two women were later traced by police and it was established that Pedley had arranged to meet the first, who he had offered money in exchange for sex.
She told police she had brought along her friend for safety reasons and had told Pedley about this in advance and he had asked “nothing further about this”.
Pedley then chose to stay in the company of the two women for several hours without removing himself from the situation or informing his monitoring officers.
This was deemed to be a breach of his SOPO in relation to the undisclosed contact with the second female.
In the dock, Pedley pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching his order without a reasonable excuse.
‘It was foolish’
Defence advocate Deirdre Flanigan told the court that her client “sincerely thought he had been the victim of a crime that day”.
“But he accepts that he shouldn’t have been socialising with young women in the first instance,” she said.
“He did not know this the woman he was meeting intended to bring her friend – Mr Pedley accepts that it was foolish and he bitterly regrets this.”
Sheriff Ian Wallace jailed Pedley, whose address was given as HMP Dumfries, for a total of 16 months.
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