A young man who sent a picture of his genitals to a nine-year-old girl was “drawn to younger people”, a court has heard.
Sean Malcolm spent hours chatting on Facebook with the girl before sending her the sexual image.
The 20-year-old had claimed to be just 15 as he began his flirtation and his victim had also claimed she was aged 15.
He was placed on the sex offenders register for 12 months and told that social workers had concerns that he would reoffend.
Perth Sheriff Court was told that officers were concerned about his tendencies, as he admitted to being “drawn to younger people”, while the court also heard that there were worries about his “sexualised thinking”.
Sheriff William Wood gave consideration to supervising Malcolm for a three years but eventually made him the subject of a 12-month community payback order.
During that time he will be supervised and will undertake one-to-one sessions in an effort to ensure there is no repeat of the offence.
Despite her youth, his victim had been permitted to have a Facebook account, which she could access through her mobile phone.
She could not, however, view pictures on her phone and so did not see the explicit image.
Instead, it was her mother who viewed it and contacted the police.
Malcolm, of Brahan Terrace in Perth, later admitted attempting to cause a child under the age of 13 to look at a sexual image by sending her the image of his private parts through Facebook on January 1.
Solicitor Bill Somerville said: “He made an attempt to send the girl a picture, thinking she was aged 15. She was not.”
He stressed that his client was “a first offender” and that the offence was libelled as “an attempt”.
Sheriff Wood told Malcolm: “There are rather worrying indicators in your behaviour which do cause some concern.
“You caused no actual harm because the girl did not view the image but you did behave inappropriately.”