Man tried to groom girl on Facebook by offering puppy

A man tried to persuade a teenage girl to reply to his sexually explicit “suggestions” by offering to buy her a puppy dog, Perth Sheriff Court has heard.

Mark Baird, 24, of Carluke, Lanark, had managed to obtain the girl’s phone number. The court was told that what started off as “chat” soon descended into him suggesting “fairly explicit” sexual matters.

Depute fiscal Robbie Brown said: “The man told the girl his age and he was aware that she was 14. Their conversation lasted for two and half hours. He tried to induce the girl by offering to buy her a puppy.”

The court heard that the girl had called Baird a “paedophile” at one point. Mr Brown said that her parents were then made aware of what had happened and they contacted the police.

Baird’s solicitor said his client had received a “friends request” message from someone on Facebook.

On Monday, he admitted that on May 22 2011 he sent sexually explicit communications to a 14-year-old girl.

Sentence was deferred until January 22 and Baird was placed on the sex offenders register.