A former bus driver who used a secret mobile phone to groom youngsters in chatrooms has been jailed for 30 months.
Ronald Young from Tayside, who was banned from having any contact with children, was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Young was on a strict order banning him from having contact or owning any internet-capable device without permission after previous convictions.
He claimed to police monitoring him he had lost his phone and was using an old-fashioned, non-internet enabled device to make calls instead.
However, he was so nervous as he detailed how he had “lost” his phone officers became suspicious and dialled its number.
When it rang, they realised it was still active and they returned to the 69-year-old’s Forfar home to carry out a full search.
Young produced the phone from under his mattress and claimed he had hidden it because he was embarrassed he had lost money investing in Bitcoin.
The officers also found a second illicit phone which Young had been using to have sexually graphic conversations with children and teenagers.
Phone breaches
Young, originally from Dundee, admitted breaching the terms of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which had been imposed to protect the public from his predatory behaviour.
Fiscal depute Charmaine Gilmartin told Dundee Sheriff Court: “In March 2014 he was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court and given a ten-year SOPO.
He returned to live in the Angus area and was being subject to regular checks by police.
Shortly after they started using a new device which could extract data from mobile phones, he revealed he had lost his phone.
‘He appeared very nervous.’
Mrs Gilmartin said: “He was asked to show his mobile phone and provided an old-style phone that did not have internet access.
“He went into great detail about how he had lost his phone and searched for it and could not find it.
“They were immediately suspicious about why he was providing such an in-depth explanation.
“He reached under the mattress and handed officers the phone he said he lost.
“He said he was embarrassed he had lost money via Bitcoin.
“He indicated he had another mobile phone to access chatrooms and engage with children.
“He had sent messages to other users he knew or believed to be under 16.
“The content was sexually explicit.”
Previous convictions
Sheriff Gregor Murray noted it was the fourth time he had breached the SOPO and told him there was no alternative to a custodial sentence.
Young was previously jailed after being lured into sexual dialogue with a vigilante group member posing as a 12-year-old girl.
While living in Montrose, he was snared twice in five months by two different groups, Dundee Sheriff Court was told in 2017.
The ex-bus driver, who has previous convictions for having child abuse images and trying to arrange to meet a young girl in London, has previously been jailed for ten months and 27 months.
