The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Paedophile facing jail term for TV breach
Apaedophile trapped by a vigilante sting has been warned he faces being sent to prison – because he bought a smart TV.
Matthew Sayers was allowed to walk free from court earlier this year when he admitted trying to meet underage girls for sex.
But Sayers has now admitted breaking strict conduct conditions by buying a smart TV which would let him contact others through the internet.
Sheriff Lorna Drummond noted that it is the third time since he was sentenced that he has admitted ignoring the court-imposed conduct rules.
She said: “This is the third breach. The message doesn’t seem to get through to him. These requirements are there for a reason.
“You cannot go on to social media platforms and do the kind of things you were doing before. It concerns me that you are breaching these elements of the order.
“They are the means of committing similar kinds of offence. In the previous breaches he had internet access that had not been supervised, and was deleting messages on his phone.
“Yet here we are again with yet another matter and he doesn’t seem to have got the message about what’s required. He is facing prison, given he’s breached the order three times.
“There are only so many chances we can give him. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get the message through.
“It’s quite clear you are not taking it seriously. You are facing being sent back to jail. I have given you quite a lot of leeway so far.”
She deferred sentence for a report until the end of the month.
In the original case, Sayers, 32, believed he was getting off a bus to meet children aged 12 and 13 that he had been having inappropriate exchanges with online.
But Sayers had been set up by a paedophile hunter group and was cornered at Dundee bus station when he arrived from his Edinburgh home.
His own solicitor, Simon Collins, told Dundee Sheriff Court: “He is unable to explain his conduct in any way that makes sense.
“He tells me that he has no sexual attraction to children. He says he doesn’t have any recollection at all of travelling to Dundee.”
He was placed on the sex offenders register and on supervision for three years, as well as being ordered to carry out 170 hours unpaid work in the community and made subject to the stringent conduct order.