A Fife man who sent sexually explicit messages to a 12-year-old girl has been jailed.
Jon McDonald McClure Walker, 23, a prisoner at Perth, had told the girl that age was “just a number” and sent her a photograph of his genitals.
He appeared for sentence at Cupar Sheriff Court having previously admitted sending messages to the girl between February 2 and May 15 this year at High Street, Newburgh.
He had also admitted possessing images or pseudo images of children.
Indecent images had been found on his two laptops and a memory card. These ranged from the lowest to the highest level of severity.
Defence agent Robin Beattie told the court that Walker had been assessed as at moderate to high risk of reoffending.
He said the offences were the result of his client’s “immaturity, boredom and lack of awareness” and being in custody since June had given him a scare.
Mr Beattie said Walker had a fiancee whom he had not seen since the matter had come to light. They still intended to wed.
“He has no intention of reoffending,” he said.
Sheriff Charles Macnair told Walker that he had considered remitting the case to the High Court but had decided to sentence him himself.
He said: “At the time of these offences you were on probation in relation to offences committed against children. You were subject to a number of restrictions and you breached your probation order on a number of occasions.
“You told your supervising officer that you were not accessing the internet for this sort of purpose.
“You then went on the internet and you found this girl, whom you knew to be under 13. You sent her a picture and then you sent a number of messages.
“These could best be described as grooming offences, in my view.”
Walker was sentenced to 17 months in jail, backdated to when he was taken into custody.
He was also placed on licence for three years after his release and placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.
The sheriff also imposed a sexual offences protection order.
Walker is also banned from contacting under-16s online or having any contact with a child without adult supervision.