A Perth man allegedly sent a video of himself singing and dancing topless to a member of a paedophile hunter group posing as 13-year-old schoolgirl.
James Kettles is accused of sending a series of sexual messages to what he thought was a teenager named Ruby Smith.
Prosecutors claim the 63-year-old was unaware “Ruby” was actually an adult member of Forbidden Scotland, described as an “online child safety team”.
Kettles denies a charge of attempting to communicate indecently with a child between August 22 and October 12, 2019.
Decoy account
A jury at Perth Sheriff Court heard that members of the group confronted Kettles outside his home in Maple Road, Perth.
It followed an exchange of messages on social media platforms between “Ruby” and an online profile with the username James or “The Flyer”.
Nicola Davidson, 31, told the court she set up Ruby Smith as a decoy account as part of her role with Forbidden Scotland.
The mental health worker said Ruby’s profile featured an image of herself that had been digitally de-aged to make her look like a teenager.
Miss Davidson said Ruby’s profile stated that she was 18, because some sites were only open to adults only.
“Our main rule is that we say the decoy’s age within the first three messages,” she said.
“I tried to mention it as often as possible.”
Chat became more explicit
The court heard she became involved in an online chat with a man called James in August 2019, on the dating site Meet4U.
He wrote to her: “Hello Princess, you are gorgeous.”
She replied: “Thanks, I’m only 13. The app won’t let me put that. Is that okay?”
He responded: “Okay, why you on here. You look 18.”
Follow-up messages included: “Are you a naughty girl and does mum know you are on here?” and: “Boys must think you’re a good looking girl, are you at secondary then?”
Miss Davidson said the chat – which moved to another social media site called Kik – became more sexual, with messages such as: “How would you describe your body? Are you turning into a lady?”
Whenever she was asked for a photo or video, Miss Davidson said her camera was broken, or that her mum was in the room.
Throughout the chats, “Ruby” was repeatedly asked about her school uniform.
At one point, she was asked: “You know all about the birds and the bees?”
Asked by fiscal depute Michael Sweeney how she felt about being asked another message about her period, Miss Davidson told the court: “I found it disgusting.
“I was quite shocked that he would ask that one.”
She described some of the more explicit texts – including mentions of male and female genitals – as “just sickening”.
She said: “He was told throughout these messages that I was 13 years old.”
Dancing video
A video sent to Miss Davidson, which she claimed featured Kettles, was shown to the jury.
“He had his top off and he was undoing the buttons on his trousers,” she said.
“He was shouting for Ruby, telling her to press the red heart, which would allow him to see me on camera.”
The clip shown in court featured a man singing: “Come on baby, I’m on fire, I want my Ruby.”
He also sang a version of No Limits by 2 Unlimited, while filming his clothed crotch.
Miss Davidson said: “I was shocked. I didn’t expect to see him dancing about like that.”
The trial before Sheriff William Wood continues.
