A pervert who was caught hiding in woods in Perthshire after going on the run following an undercover police paedophile sting has finally appeared in the dock.
Coen Bust, 47, disappeared from his Edinburgh home just hours before he was due to be sentenced for sending vile sexual messages to what he believed was a 14-year-old schoolgirl.
Police Scotland launched a manhunt, including two appeals to the public and images showing the Dutch national getting off a train at Dunkeld on March 13.
The computer specialist was eventually tracked down by officers, sleeping rough in a woodland area at the nearby Birnam Glen beauty spot 18 days later.
Bust has been held in custody for the last seven days and appeared for sentencing in front of Sheriff Wendy Sheehan at the capital’s sheriff court on Wednesday.
Police raid
Previously the court heard Bust had used the name Buttery Robot when making contact with ‘14-year-old Sophie’ on the Chat Avenue forum, before moving to Snapchat in August 2023.
Instead of a child Bust was sending sick sexual messages to an undercover police officer who had set up the profile to snare online child sex offenders.
Police raided Bust’s former home at the city’s New Town after tracing his IP address and he was arrested and charged on September 12 2023.
Bust pled guilty on January 30 this year and was placed on the sex offenders register on an interim basis.
He due to be sentenced on March 13 but failed to turn up, forcing the police to launch the hunt for him.
Controversially, public appeals for help finding him did not mention his sex offender status.
Sentencing
Sheriff Sheehan sentenced Bust, of Stockbridge, to a community payback order involving a two-year supervision order as a direct alternative to a custodial sentence.
She said: “You come before this court with no previous convictions and no other outstanding cases and I hope that after this matter you will not come back to court again.
“The seriousness of this offence is such that a custodial sentence is definitely one the court is considering but with offending of this type my focus is on how we prevent this happening again.”
Bust was issued with internet and computer restrictions and banned from having contact with any child under the age of 16 and was placed on the sex offenders register for two years.
Fled after press attention
Solicitor Ross Gardner, defending, said: “The position was he had cooperated with the process of providing a report but it is undoubtedly the case that anxiety and suicidal aggravation took a part.
“He was aware of press reporting and essentially left the jurisdiction believing he had lost his partner and contact with his family members.”
Mr Gardner told the court his client had been receiving treatment in hospital since his arrest last week.
He had pled guilty to making the online contact for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification and also admitted making arrangements to travel with the intention of meeting the child to engage with unlawful sexual activity, all between August 23 and September 4 2023.
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