Transatlantic co-operation between Police Scotland and Facebook led to a convicted sex offender being caught trying to lure young girls to send him indecent images of themselves.
But the offences were committed five years before Benjamin Mackay had been sentenced for other sex offences, including possessing indecent images of children he had persuaded to pose naked while he was working as a lifeguard at an Inverness leisure centre.
Mackay is currently serving a three year jail sentence for sexually assaulting a drunk and sleeping woman in a London flat.
As a result, 25 year old shaven-headed Mackay, of Woodlands Close, Westhill, was yesterday treated as a first offender at Inverness Sheriff Court and he was sentenced to 12 months in prison, backdated to his remand date of April 13.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register.
Defence solicitor advocate Shahid Latif said his client was “a socially isolated individual who showed a lack of maturity”.
He added that Mackay “has taken steps to address his behaviour”.
At an earlier hearing, fiscal Sharon Ralph told the court that a former girlfriend of Mackay had been interviewed by police investigating one of his previous offences. She told officers the names of some girls with whom he may have had previous Facebook involvement, the prosecutor went on.
Mrs Ralph added: “Thereafter an International Letter of Request made to Facebook resulted in a certified copy of evidence being sent to the police which allowed them to identify the four girls.”
Mackay admitted trying to extort more indecent images from one girl in 2013 by threatening to publish a naked photo of her already in his possession.
He also pleaded guilty to sending sexual communications to three other girls asking for naked photos of them.
Mrs Ralph said Mackay would either use his real name or a pseudonym “Danny Smith”, and lie about his age to make the requests.
All the girls refused to comply with his demands, despite him telling one that he loved her, she went on.