Two years for man who groomed teenage girl

German sex offender continued to contact Perthshire girl after he discovered her true age

A German sex offender who tried to flee to his home country with an underage Perthshire schoolgirl had her mobile number stored in his phone under the name “baby”.

Uwe Kaiser breached his bail conditions to contact the 15-year-old through encrypted messaging service WhatsApp.

The court had heard how Kaiser, from Frankfurt, travelled more than 600 miles to visit the girl after contact was made between the pair on an internet chat site.

At the time the girl was aged 15, but within weeks their conversations had turned sexual and they were using WhatsApp to exchange explicit pictures.

The court had heard the girl initially claimed to be 16, while Kaiser told her he was 35.

However, even when she confided to him that she was just 15, he continued to have “sexualised chat” with her.

The depute fiscal had said Kaiser was known to have made two visits to Scotland to meet the girl.

On the second occasion, he persuaded her to head for London and then on to Germany.

However, police intervened before Kaiser’s plan could come to fruition.

Kaiser admitted grooming the girl between January and October 2015 and of breaching a bail order not to approach her.

Yesterday at Perth Sheriff Court, Kaiser, 49, was jailed for two years and placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Sentencing Kaiser, of St Catherine’s Square, Perth, Sheriff Gillian Wade said: “I take into account that you come before me as a first offender, and that you pled guilty at an early opportunity and that the complainer, who is now 16, was at least a willing participant.

“However the complainer was vulnerable and the legislation exists to protect them from themselves as well as predators.

“This was a course of conduct over nine months when you were aware of her age.”

She continued: “This was a course of conduct which included grooming over the internet, travelling to Scotland and persisting in contact with the complainer despite an order from the court.

“You seem to think it’s a technical breach of rules, but that’s not the case and the court requires to deal with this offence appropriately.”

Uwe Kaiser breached bail to contact the 15-year-old.