A paedophile pensioner who sent vile messages to an online decoy posing as a 14-year-old girl has been placed on the sex offenders register.
Duncan Moir believed he was talking to a teen called Molly on Facebook when he sent messages that explicitly detailed sexual acts.
He asked her intimate questions about her anatomy and warned her not to tell anyone about their chats, saying: “I would be in trouble because of your age baby.”
Moir, 71, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of attempting to communicate indecently with a child.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair told the court that on December 17 2023, a decoy pretending to be a 14-year-old girl called Molly on Facebook received a message from a profile named ‘Moir Duncan’.
The decoy asked how old Moir was, and he replied that he was “an old man” of 71.
OAP requested photos of ‘child’
He asked Molly how old she was, and she replied that she was 14.
Moir sent Molly a picture of himself and the pair engaged in general conversation, with Moir acknowledging that the “child” had school the next day.
He continued to message Molly, acknowledging the age difference between them and referring to her as “Baby”, before asking if she had a boyfriend.
When she replied that her last boyfriend had wanted to “touch and stuff” Moir told her the boyfriend had been “too horny for you” before requesting photographs of her.
After this, the conversation became more sexual with Moir describing a sex act to the “child” and telling her: “One good thing is doing that you won’t get pregnant”.
Pensioner questioned ‘child’ about her anatomy
He said that she “made him horny” and encouraged her to perform a solo sex act, before asking her intimate questions about her anatomy.
“He proceded over the coming days to repeatedly and explicitly detail how she could pleasure herself and how he would pleasure her this included oral and vaginal sex,” Ms Gair told Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald.
She added: “At one point he said: ‘By the way, don’t tell anyone what I have been telling you or I would be in trouble because of your age, baby.”
The court heard Moir continually told “Molly” that he loved her and said he was “helping her to be safe from those that would take advantage of her.”
Paedophile hunters live-streamed confrontation
Throughout the exchanges, the decoy operator had been seeking assistance in identifying Moir.
When this was achieved a group called “Protecting Kids Scotland” confronted him at his home on March 17 of last year, live-streaming the results.
Police were contacted and Moir was cautioned and arrested.
His home was searched and devices containing the messages were recovered.
Solicitor Brent Lockie, for Moir, told the court his client had cooperated fully and resolved the case with an early plea.
He asked Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald to grant Moir, of Bede Road, Rathven, bail while he awaits sentencing.
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald told Moir that she needed a criminal justice social work report and an assessment “to consider whether you should be sent on a programme for sex offenders – which you are now confirmed to be”.
She deferred sentencing to early June and placed Moir on the sex offenders register with immediate effect, the eventual length of registration to be determined at sentencing.