A military veteran who was caught sending vile sexual messages to two young girls by a paedophile hunter group has pled guilty.
James Dunn appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court yesterday where he admitted contacting social media profiles in the belief that they belonged to a 12 and a 14-year-old girl.
The 41-year-old repeatedly sent pictures of a sexual nature to the two profiles, despite being told the ages of the two girls.
He told the decoy profiles, which actually belonged to adult members of the hunter group, that he wanted to perform various sex acts with them and to “cuddle up”.
The pervert was confronted on the doorstep of his former home in Glenrothes by members of Child Protectors Scotland on January 13.
His partner overhead the conversation and demanded to see the chat logs and pictures that Dunn had sent before inviting the group into the house.
She later confirmed to investigating police officers that the man in the images was her now ex-partner and she was able to positively identify his clothing, watch, and genitalia.
When questioned by police, Dunn, of Den Walk in Methil, admitted he had sent the messages and said it was because he was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Dunn pled guilty to sending sexual communications to a person under the age of 13 online between January 9 and 13 this year.
He also accepted sending the inappropriate messages to a girl over the age of 13 but under 16 on January 18 from the address in Glenrothes.
Depute fiscal Sarah Lumsden told the court Dunn was being investigated by two separate branches of the paedophile hunter group in England and Scotland.
The confrontation was live-streamed on Facebook and has since been viewed more than 1400 times.
Miss Lumsden added: “He admitted to police officers that he had sent messages and that it had been going on for about one week and that was due to his PTSD.
“When cautioned and charged, he replied: ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry for the whole lot. I apologise for being so stupid.’”
Defence solicitor Megan Davidson said her client had previous convictions, but that none of them related to charges of a similar nature.
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist QC ordered Dunn to sign the sex offenders register and deferred sentence for background reports.
