A serial child sex offender who called police when paedophile hunters turned up at his door and taunted him with a cucumber has been jailed for 12 months.
Francis Burns called police to whinge he was being harassed after the vigilante group exposed him for sending nude photos and videos to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
The group confronted Burns with a cucumber after he discussed carrying out sex acts with the vegetable during chats with the decoy.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown also placed Burns on the Sex Offenders Register and said: “In light of your previous convictions, I am satisfied a custodial sentence is the only way to deal with it.”
Burns, 50, has multiple convictions for sending messages involving the sexual abuse of children and has spent several periods in prison.
The predatory paedophile was placed on a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) in October 2020 because of the danger he continues to pose to children.
Increasingly graphic messages
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Burns was visited by members of the Secrets and Lies paedophile hunter group at his home in Dunholm Terrace, Dundee.
Footage shows a clearly annoyed Burns calling police to complain about the visit, while members of the group goaded him with the cucumber.
Fiscal depute Sarah Wilkinson said: “The conversation [on the SayHi app] was initiated by the accused.
“He said ‘hello’ and she [an adult male volunteer posing as ‘Charlotte’] advised him she was only 13.
“The conversation continued. After seeing a picture of the girl the accused responded ‘wow, you look amazing.’
He then provided her his number, saying he did not use SayHi but did use WhatsApp.
“In conversation, the accused told the girl he would like to go camping.
“She told him she wanted to be a model and he said she could be a topless model.”
The conversation became increasingly explicit, with Burns then requesting and sending videos of sex acts and asking for nude images.
The messages continued to get more graphic and sexual in their nature, the court was told.
He also warned her “not to tell anyone” about their messages because it would get him into trouble.
History of offending
In January 2023, the group carried out a sting operation at his home and presented him with screenshots of naked images he had sent.
As the confrontation continued, the video shows Burns calling police and a group member saying they were already on their way.
Officers arrived within a few minutes and entered his flat and shut the door.
The court heard, following his arrest, Burns said: “I know I am going to jail. I know I am going back to Perth.”
Burns admitted that between December 26 2022 and January 9 2023, for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification or for humiliating, distressing or alarming a child he believed to be aged 13, causing an adult to view sexual images and receive written sexual communication by sending sexually explicit messages, images and videos via social media and attempting to communicate indecently with an older child.
Burns was jailed in 2017 when he targeted four different children via Kik and SayHi messenger sites.
He claimed he was a 14-year-old boy and asked one for indecent pictures.
He was later caught red-handed breaching his SOPO when a message appeared on his phone as police installed monitoring equipment on it.
It showed he had been deleting messages from his phone without permission.
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