A Dundee sex offender who encouraged the rape of children and babies has failed in a bid to have his conviction quashed.
Dean Martin, of Strathmartine Road, was placed under supervision in April this year and put on the sex offenders register for two years.
He had been found guilty after trial at the city’s sheriff court of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by making statements on a chatline in which he swore and promoted and encouraged the rape and other sexual abuse of children between May 27 and August 22, 2012.
Martin, 54, had been using a chatline called “Mantalk” which enables people to converse in relative privacy on a number of “adult issues”.
On Sunday May 27 2012, he telephoned the service from his landline and left messages revealed to the court but not made public in which he advocated illicit behaviour.
Due to a fault, details of the conversation were made available to all users of the site.
They were reported to operators who listened to Martin’s messages and informed the Child Online Protection service, who informed the police.
During his trial, Martin’s legal team argued that his behaviour was not illegal as it was “private and anonymous”.
His appeal centred on the belief that the sheriff had “erred” in rejecting that argument. He did not dispute the nature of his conversations.
Lady Smith rejected his appeal, concluding that many people had been exposed to them, including employees of the website.
She said: “The content was disgusting, abhorrent and shocking and bound to alarm any reasonable person.”