Sex predator cop sent vile messages from police station
Branded danger to kids after paedophile ‘chat’... but he walks free
A POLICE sergeant has been deemed a ‘serious risk to children’ after he was snared in an undercover paedophile sting.
Paul Bucknall, 52, made sexual remarks online to two police officers posing as parents between September and December 2019.
His messages – some of which were sent from a police station – included asking one of the officers if she would ‘share’ the ten-yearold girl she posed as a parent of.
Bucknall pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to two charges under the Communications Act.
The first charge stated his messages were ‘grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character’. The offences took place at Cathcart police station in Glasgow and at his home in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire.
Sheriff Allan McKay said: ‘I don’t need to tell you these offences are serious... your background report indicates that you lacked insight into the effect of the offending and that you have adopted a psychologically detached condition.
‘The report says this condition presents as a high risk of causing serious harm to children and you have to address that.
‘This would not be addressed in prison. A community payback order is the best approach to protect society from you and ultimately, at the end of the day to cure you of the psychological condition you have.’
Bucknall was ordered to do 225 hours of unpaid work, put under supervision and placed on the sex offenders’ register for two years.
He is restricted in access to children under 16 but will be allowed access to computer equipment upon request.
The hearing was told Bucknall joined the ‘Chat Avenue’ website, where he spoke to an undercover officer who stated she was the mother of a ten-year-old girl.
Prosecutor Jennifer Sillars said: ‘He expressed highly graphic sexual comments, including he had no age limits.’
Bucknall then chatted with another officer who said he had children aged eight and two. Miss Sillars said he ‘expressed sexual interest in the children’.
Bucknall’s home was raided after a warrant was granted. He was arrested and gave a no comment interview.
Pamela Rodgers, defending, told the court Bucknall who now lives in Rotherham, Yorkshire, has lost his wife, two children and his granddaughter. She added: ‘He had to resign from Police Scotland and lost £60,000 from his pension because he resigned short of his retirement date. [He] has suffered from his actions.’
‘These offences are serious’