Paedophile snared by vigilante group

A BRICKLAYER created multiple fake personas online in a bid to dupe a 14-year-old girl into carrying out sex acts for him.

Donald Griffin, 58, initially claimed to be a 17-year-old boy called Lee and then presented himself as the boy’s mother, using Susan as a fake name.

Griffin spun a web of lies – including that the mother worked in the child abuse unit with Police Scotland – to hook the girl into believing him.

But it was ultimately Griffin who was duped, as the 14-year-old girl was actually a front for an adult member of a paedophile hunter group.

His partner called police when eight members of the vigilante group turned up at their home to confront “Lee Griffin” as she thought it was mistaken identity.

However, when police started to look into the matter it emerged it was Griffin who had been using his own phone to contact the girl.

He told officers: “I don’t know what to say to be honest.”

At Perth Sheriff Court, Griffin, of Kinloch Terrace, Perth, admitted sending sexual communication to a girl he believed to be between 13 and 16 for his sexual gratification between January 3-16 2019.

Fiscal depute Gail Russell told the court that Child Protectors Scotland set up a fake Facebook account for a child and it was quickly targeted by Griffin.

She said: “Within five or 10 minutes of making contact he stated that he wished to meet. The following day he asked to see her naked breasts.”

Griffin offered to pay “Dani’s” phone credit so he could speak to her and when phone contact was made it became clear he was an older man.

“She received numerous messages from him,” said Ms Russell.

“He stated his mother worked in the child porn unit in Perth. He stated his mother had caught him and called him a dirty pervert.”

During the dialogue, his “mother” intervened and asked Dani what age she was.

Griffin – posing as the teenage boy – later claimed his mother had grounded him over their communication.

Sentence was deferred until March for the preparation of reports and Griffin was placed on the sex offenders register.

Donald Griffin