A 45-year-old man who pretended to be a teenage boy on chat sites to obtain naked pictures of children has been jailed for two years.
Francis Burns, of Clepington Road, targeted four different children via mobile social media apps KIK and SayHi.
The children live in England and have never met Burns.
Depute fiscal John Adams told Dundee Sheriff Court Burns contacted the first complainer telling the child his name was Tom and he was 14 years old.
He sent a picture of a young man saying it was him and the child sent photos in which it was obvious the child was underage.
Burns then asked for indecent pictures of the child. He sent the child an indecent image and continued to ask for more naked and explicit photos.
The child later blocked him but he contacted the youngster again through another chat app, threatening to put the images on Facebook if he did not receive more.
The child’s father was informed and police were notified. Officers searched Burns’ home at the time in East School Road, where all of the offences were committed, and it became clear there were three other victims.
He told three other children he was called Rob and used the same picture of a young man as his profile picture.
The fiscal said he chatted with the second complainer for just half an hour before asking if the child loved him. He asked for pictures of the child and the photos made it obvious the child was prepubescent. He carried out the same conduct with two other children.
Burns pleaded guilty on indictment to eight charges under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act committed in July and August last year at his former home address in East School Road, Dundee.
Defence advocate Drew McKenzie said initially he understood the children to be at least 14 years old or over but as it developed he knew or must have known they were under 14 and he did not immediately disengage.
Sheriff Alastair Brown imposed a two-year prison sentence as well as a year’s extended licence once he is released.
Burns was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Sheriff Brown said: “This is dreadful deception and manipulation of children by a middle-aged man.”
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