A teenager who admitted having sex with three young girls in Dundee has narrowly avoided a prison sentence.
Kyle Leonard was aged 17 when he began to prey upon the girls, who were then aged between 13 and 15, at addresses across the city.
The impressionable young women all formed sexual relationships with Leonard, now 19, between the winter of 2013 and spring of 2014.
Leonard initially denied any part in the relationships when first spoken to by police but subsequently admitted to three offences at Dundee Sheriff Court.
He pled guilty to having sex with three children, all under the age of 16, at properties across Dundee, under the terms of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act.
The teen, of Lawton Terrace, also appeared on a charge of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner and shouting and swearing inside Dundee Sheriff Court on February 4 this year.
He was in the dock to face charges relating to the sexual offences but caused the court to be temporarily abandoned after verbally abusing the sheriff at some length.
Appearing again on Tuesday, he was more subdued and broke his silence only to accept an alternative to custody.
Leonard’s solicitor spoke briefly to comment upon his client’s age and to stress that he was a young man who “has not had his difficulties to seek”.
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC told him: “You were young, but so were the complainers.”
In connection with the sexual offences, he imposed a community payback order including a condition that he carry out 210 hours of unpaid work and that he be supervised for the next 18 months.
In addition, he can only reside in accommodation that is pre-approved by social workers and must also inform them of any “new relationship with a female”.
A further 70 hours of unpaid work were added for the threats and abuse he directed towards court staff.
