‘Hideous’ messages sent by repeat sex offender to ‘girls’

Arepeat Fife sex offender sent “hideous” messages and sick images to people he thought were 14-year-old girls.

During the exchanges, William Scott told one of the decoys, adults pretending to be children, he would meet her in Glenrothes and “bring her back” to his flat for sex.

The 51-year-old appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court by video link to prison to plead guilty to two charges of attempting to communicate indecently with a child and one of attempting to cause them to look at a sexual image.

Scott’s offending took place between November 15 and 19 last year at his then-home in Elgin Drive, Glenrothes, and elsewhere.

Prosecutor Alistair Mcdermid told the court an adult member of an organisation called

Protecting Kids Scotland had been posing as a 14-year-old girl called Tiffany and speaking to Scott on Whatsapp and the dating app Mingle.

The court heard numerous examples of Scott’s extreme sexual chat, which included asking the “girl” to perform a sex act.

Scott also asked to meet the decoy at the shopping centre in Glenrothes.

He said he would meet her in town then “get her in a taxi and bring her back to his flat” before stating how he would have sex with her.

The court heard Scott also engaged in sexual chat with a second decoy called Maz on Mingle and Whatsapp.

The court heard these messages contained explicit pornographic videos and images.

He also asked the decoys if he could show them cartoon videos of girls involved in sexual acts.

On November 19 last year, members of the paedophile hunter group went to Scott’s home to confront him.

The fiscal depute said Scott made admissions about the sexual communications and stated he was “fed up looking for adults as they were scamming him”.

The conversation was live-streamed on the group’s Facebook page and police were contacted.

The court heard Scott was convicted in 2018 for similar offences.

He is already on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

He has previously received custodial sentences, including at High Court level.

Defence lawyer David Bell said: “He (Scott) tells me he was going through a mental health breakdown at that time.”

Mr Bell said Scott only has one previous conviction involving contact with a child from when he was 16.

Sheriff James Williamson described Scott’s record as “worrying” and said: “The language used by you is hideous, when considering it’s directly towards what you think are children.”

He also highlighted Scott will be subject to scrutiny and control in the community, with licence conditions after his release.

The sheriff jailed him for two years, backdated to November 20 last year, and placed him on the sex offenders register for another 10 years.

William Scott was confronted by a paedophile hunter group last year.