A pervert has been spared a prison sentence for sending indecent pictures to an undercover police officer who he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
Benn Cusick used messaging platform Kik to send a series of explicit images to “Maisie Nixon” – a decoy profile used by a police officer – from his Dundee home in March 2019.
The creep was snared as part of a UK-wide operation set up to tackle online child exploitation.
Cusick, 20, previously pleaded guilty at Dundee Sheriff Court to sending sick pictures to a person he thought was a child but given a community-based disposal instead of a jail term.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael said: “If you make a mess of the order and you come back to court, then there’s a chance that you’ll get a custodial sentence.”
The court heard that used the name “Christopher Wayne” to communicate with the account, disguised as a 13-year-old girl living in England.
Cusick initially engaged in general conversation before asking if she wanted to see a “**** pic”.
He then sent indecent images from his bedroom and in his garden.
Prosecutor Lynne Mannion said: “Some of the images show a black and white wallpaper in the background.
“One photo was taken outside and the male appears to be sitting down out on a brown, wooden bench. All the conversations and photos are exchanged over one day.”
Investigations were carried out and were able to trace the account back to Cusick.
A police raid found that Cusick’s bedroom had identical wallpaper to what was seen in some of the images. The same was found of the garden bench.
Cusick, of Emmock Woods Crescent, pleaded guilty to attempting to cause a person, believed to be a child aged 13, to look at a sexual image in that he sent a quantity of indecent digital images to an undercover police officer in the belief that they were a 13-year-old child.
Sheriff Carmichael placed Cusick on supervision for nine months as well as making him subject to ten conduct requirements, which restrict his access to the internet as well as preventing him from owning multiple devices capable of accessing the web.
Cusick was also placed on the sex offender’s register for nine months. The sentence was imposed as a direct alternative to custody.
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