A MAN who sent videos of himself performing a solo sex act to a person he believed was a young schoolgirl was caught after he unwittingly sent his address to a paedophile hunters group.

William Young contacted the online profile belonging to a 12-year-old child named Louise and sent images of his genitals and videos of him performing a solo sex act.

Young, 55, also asked to meet up with the ‘child’ for sex and repeatedly asked for her to send him naked pictures of herself.

Young was eventually caught out when he was asked to send his address so that the victim could send him a Christmas card.

But instead of a chatting to a schoolgirl, Young was in fact in contact with a decoy from the Confronted and Caught paedophile hunter group, who turned up at his former home in Tranent.

The members of the group then contacted the police and Young was arrested and charged during the meeting on December 9 last year.

Young pleaded guilty to two offences of attempting to cause a child to view indecent images and videos, and attempting to communicate indecently with a child when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

'Loved young girls'

Prosecutor Morgan Beattie told the court that an adult member of the Confronted and Caught hunter group set up a Facebook profile purporting to be a 12-year old girl named Louise Grey.

Young soon contacted the profile and began sending messages asking “do you like older men” and stating “wish I was in bed with you”.

The messages also stated that he “loved young girls” and he repeatedly asked the child what sexual positions she enjoyed.

The sordid chats moved to WhatsApp, where Young, now of The Pleasance, Edinburgh, sent messages including “I love you in your school uniform” and asking if she had seen an adult man naked.

The court was told that Young also sent images of his genitals and “multiple” videos of him performing a solo sex act, despite being told repeatedly that the child was only 12 years old.

Young then asked to meet up with the girl for a sexual encounter before sending his address when the decoy pretending to be the child said that she wanted to send him a Christmas card.

'Knew it was wrong'

Ms Beattie said that members of the paedophile hunter group subsequently arrived at Young’s former home in Tranent to confront him over the online contact.

He told the hunter group “I thought the lassie was over age” but then admitted he “knew it was wrong”.

The court was told that, following his arrest, Young initially denied all involvement before confessing his guilt to officers.

Sheriff Charles Walls placed Young on the sex offenders' register on an interim basis and deferred sentence for social work reports and a risk assessment to next month.

Young pleaded guilty to causing a child, who was in fact an adult, to look at sexual images, sending indecent images and videos of himself performing a solo sex act at an address in Tranent, between November 13 and December 9 last year.

He also admitted to a charge of sending written and verbal communications, repeatedly asking the child what she was wearing, repeatedly requesting she send indecent images of herself and asking if she would engage in sexual intercourse with him between the same dates.