A 23-year-old man has been jailed for eight months after admitting sending indecent messages to a boy almost half his age.
After befriending the 12-year-old on Facebook, Fred Beeby, formerly of Perth, requested his mobile phone number before bombarding him with explicit texts.
The convicted sex pest, who now lives on Woodside Road, Raploch, Stirling, told the unsuspecting child he was ”naked” in one particularly unpleasant message.
Perth Sheriff Court heard that the young boy, who cannot be identified, quickly switched his mobile off but later discovered one further communication asking if he ever touched himself in a sexual manner.
The former taxi driver admitted repeatedly sending texts of an indecent and sexual nature to the 12-year-old on April 23 and 24 last year.
Appearing in the dock on crutches, Beeby stood with his head bowed as Sheriff Robert McCreadie expressed his disgust at the offence.
Placing him on the sex offenders register for 10 years, the sheriff noted he had appeared on an analogous complaint in 2009, pleading guilty to a charge alleging he harassed a female colleague with hundreds of seedy texts.
One released from prison, the 23-year-old will have to spend a further year on licence.
Depute fiscal Nicola Manison detailed the facts that led to Beeby’s arrest at an earlier hearing.
She explained that the under-age victim confided in his mother as to the nature of the correspondence, who then contacted the police.
She had given permission for her son to accept Beeby’s Facebook ‘friend’ request.
On April 23 the boy began to receive text messages from the accused, Ms Manison said, but after reading that the 23-year-old was naked he switched his device off.
The depute fiscal continued: ”The following morning, when the complainer switched his phone on, there were several messages. A check was carried out and it was confirmed they had been sent from the accused’s number. He was later traced at his home address.”
Ms Manison noted that one message, which had been sent at 8.45pm the previous night, asked the youngster an intimate sexual question.
The court heard that, despite his guilty plea last month, Beeby refused to admit to his actions when quizzed by social workers composing a background report.
Sheriff McCreadie said denial was a trait often witnessed in sex offenders and concluded that it reinforced the need for incarceration.
”He has exhibited classic signs of this type of offence, denial being one of them.”
He went on: ”By lying to social workers he has lied to this court, because the report was meant for me. It suggests naivety on a massive scale and I have no faith in his credibility.”
Talking directly to Beeby, he added: ”You pled guilty to a serious offence relating to sexual remarks to a young boy. You then later denied there was any sexual element when talking to a social worker.
”I am satisfied that a custodial sentence is the only suitable disposal and it reflects society’s abhorrence of such conduct.”