Man guilty of bombarding teenage girl with messages

Fifty-eight-year-old Michael Rennie, of Highfield, Drumlemble, bombarded a teenage girl with social media messages, one of which was sexual, Sheriff Patrick Hughes was told during a two-day trial.

Rennie denied sending a quantity of messages via social media to a girl aged between 13 and 16, for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification or of humiliating, distressing or alarming her, and that in the course of sending the messages he requested that she did not share the existence or content of the messages with any other person.

The messages were sent from various locations in Kintyre and elsewhere between July 26 and August 17 last year, with one sexual written communication on August 17.

Rennie’s trial took place at Campbeltown and Oban sheriff courts on December 9 and December 30 last year. At the start of the trial, the sheriff ordered there should be no reporting which would directly or indirectly identify the child witnesses.

On finding Rennie guilty, the sheriff told him: ‘Your own position is incredible.’

The off-shore worker was immediately the subject of mandatory registration as a sex offender and his sentence was deferred until March 4 for a criminal justice social work report and suitability for a restriction of liberty order report to be prepared.

At Campbeltown Sheriff Court last week, Sheriff Hughes was told by Rennie’s defence agent Graeme Wright: ‘The suggestion from the report, given his age, no previous convictions and that he is part of a family unit where his income is a substantial part; I am asking for a non-custodial sentence.’

Sheriff Hughes made Rennie the subject of a community payback order for two years, during which he must work with a supervising officer and carry out 200 hours of unpaid work within 18 months. The order also includes strict conditions regarding his ownership and use of internet devices which much be inspected, contain no encryption software and the history must not be deleted.

He must also live in accommodation approved by his supervising officer and tell them of any development in relationships. He must not be in contact with any young person under the age of 16 without notification and have no contact of any kind whatsoever with the teenage girl who was the complainer in the court case.

‘You will comply rigorously; if not, you will come back before this court,’ Sheriff Hughes warned.