A DALRY man was snared in an online sting after arranging to meet with someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl for "unlawful sexual activity".

Scott Simpson, 27, pleaded guilty to a total of five charges when he appeared in the dock at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on Tuesday, August 6.

He admitted three charges in relation to attempting to communicate indecently with children under 16, one of attempting to meet a child with intention of engaging in unlawful sexual behaviour,  and one of possessing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.

Fiscal depute Jaide Podlesny told the court Simpson's behaviour came to light after a probe by Police Scotland's cybercrime and digital forensics department.

One of Simpson's offences, an attempt to communicate indecently with a person claimed to be a boy aged 15 from Preston on October 18, 2022, was not part of this investigation.

Court papers state that the true identity of this person is unknown to the prosecutor, though Simpson, of Westpark Wynd, is known to have sent a series of written sexual communications to him, making comments to him about engaging in sexual activity.

The investigation began on March 10 last year when an undercover police officer was deployed on an online chat platform, posing as a 13-year-old girl named Hannah King.

The officer connected with a profile operated by Simpson, who said he was 26, and a conversation began.

Ms Podlesny added: “Conversation immediately took a sexual turn on the part of the accused."

The interactions continued between March 11-14, and the conversations were transferred over to Snapchat, where Simpson held a profile under an alias name.

Ms Podlesny told the court that Simpson made arrangements to meet up with the 'child' "for sexual activity".

She explained: "The accused advised that he would attend in a McDonald’s restaurant in Partick and collect the child in his vehicle."

Police went to the West End Retail Park in Glasgow on March 14 and Simpson confirmed to the chat profile that he had arrived and was waiting near the entrance.

However, after a search, officers found no trace of Simpson's vehicle and were later stood down.

But further enquiries appeared to reveal that Simpson had also been exchanging messages with a female who was apparently 15 years old.

The court was told that Simpson made sexual comments referring to the child's bra size, and made reference to himself being her “secret boyfriend double your age”.

Police with a search warrant went to Simpson's home on March 22 and found a mobile phone before arresting him.

 

An examination of the phone found indecent still images of children, sourced from the internet.

A total of 20 photographs were found, with the most extreme depicting rape and sexual exploitation of children.

Officers also recovered Snapchat conversations between Simpson and a second person, who he believed to be a 15-year-old girl called Erin,on January 23 and 24 last year in which Simpson asked the 'child' about their previous sexual experience.

In one message read out to the court, Simpson said: “15-year-old virgin sounds perfect to me.”

The account was traced to an address owned by a witness named to the court, who identified themselves as the owner of a Snapchat account when visited by police.

The witness confirmed he was responsible for the 'Erin' profile and said he had pretended to be a 15-year-old girl in a bid to identify adult males looking to speak to young girls.

Sheriff Nicola Patrick called for background reports, and Simpson's solicitor said he would reserve his comments in mitigation until those reports were available.

Simpson was granted bail and put on the sex offenders register with immediate effect.