Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
REPULSIVE
He is facing a prison sentence after police uncovered his depraved online messages.
He made references to the abuse of children, incest and the rape of a young girl.
He is a self-confessed porn addict who visited sinster sites to satisfy his vile fantasies.
He is categorised by cops as a ‘high risk’ to children.
He is former Airdrie councillor David Fagan — and he is... Despicable former councillor David Fagan is facing a prison sentence after being convicted of sending sickening online messages that made reference to incest, the sexual abuse of children and a disgusting desire to rape a young girl.
Disgraced Fagan – once mooted as a future council leader – used sinister websites to investigate the “taboo” subjects he fantasised about, behaviour Sheriff Frank Pieri described as “frankly repulsive”.
Last Thursday, the perverted father- of- two was found guilty of sending a series of vile online messages to horrified undercover police officers in a sting operation that occurred over a four- month period in 2016.
During Fagan’s four-day trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court, the 53-year-old paedophile said he fantasised about having sex with a parent and child.
The self-confessed porn addict, who was a councillor for 14 years and latterly represented the Airdrie South ward, was categorised by cops as a “high risk” to children.
Disgraced David Fagan fantasised about incest and used sinister websites to investigate taboo subjects.
The former Airdrie councillor is facing jail after being found guilty of sending a series of depraved online messages to undercover police officers in a sting operation.
The Petersburn father-of-two and self-confessed “porn addict” shared warped fantasies about incest while talking to an undercover policewoman who had been alerted to him.
She told him she was a 40-year-old mother- of- three from London, and Fagan exchanged explicit messages discussing sexual fantasies involving her and children.
The 53-year-old was categorised as high risk and arrested after the alarming online conversations that took place between May and August 2016. He stood trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court last week.
A jury heard claims he had agreed to pay money to meet the woman and rape one of her children in her presence.
Fagan told jurors he never planned to carry out the rape but did fantasise about perverted sex acts.
Despite his protestations, the jury convicted him of sending messages in relation to incest, the sexual abuse of
children and the rape of a child.
They returned a not proven verdict on another charge that he conspired to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex while another girl, aged 12, was present.
Prosecutor Liam Haggart had urged jurors to convict Fagan.
He said: “You would have to believe a man whose own evidence is that he mixed fact with fantasy, truth with lies, when he was unwittingly engaged with these undercover officers.
“The investigators were in no doubt about what they were dealing with and neither should you.”
Allan Macleod, defending, insisted Fagan was simply acting out a fantasy and had no interest in abusing children.
He said: “This is not a popularity contest and this is not a court of morals.
“You have to decide if the Crown have proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt and you have to decide if there was a genuine agreement to commit sexual abuse of children.”
He added: “I’m not asking you to like David Fagan or vote for him as a councillor or have a drink with him in the pub.
“I’m simply asking you to fulfil the oath that you took to come to a true verdict in accordance with the evidence and acquit him.”
While giving evidence, Fagan – who used the online username MrMaster641 – told the jury he never planned meeting the young girl but confessed to having depraved thoughts.
He said: “I was fantasising about having sex with a parent and daughter. My interest was in the taboo rather than a specific child.
“I have had an addiction to pornography for an awful long time, when I first got a PC it was fuelled by that.
“I would stay away from images of teenagers on the computer but I developed this fantasy round having sex with a parent and a daughter.
“The fact that it was taboo made the fantasy even stronger.”
Fagan insisted he had no intention of acting out his warped desires.
He went on: “I did not take steps for that fantasy to come true.
“I was not interested in actually sexually abusing children, that is the truth.”
He added: ““I thought the police officer was a genuine woman, I had no idea she was an undercover officer.
“I was just saying whatever she wanted, so she would keep talking to me. I also had no intention of paying money to anyone.”
The jury heard transcripts of private Skype messages which prosecutors said showed that Fagan was actively looking for children to abuse.
The undercover officer, who gave her evidence from behind screens, told the court : “I was tasked to contact this man because my colleague had spoken with him previously and I sent him a message.
“I got a response saying he was a 52- year- old living in Glasgow but that he visited London sometimes for business. “He was talking about raping the older child while I sexually abused the youngest child. “He didn’t sound like a fantasist to me. “I ended our contact because he was regarded as such a high risk to children.” Addressing Fagan following the verdict, Sheriff Frank Pieri said: “In all the circumstances of the case, I’m not prepared to deal with you today and I’m going to call for reports and your bail will be continued. “In my view, the offence committed contains a significant sexual element and as such you will now be subject to the notification requirements of the sex offenders’ register.” Sheriff Pieri told jurors that the evidence they heard had been “frankly repulsive” but thanked them for carrying out their civic duty. Fagan declined our offer to publicly apologise for his actions. He will be sentenced next month.