A former wrestling referee who sent sick messages to decoys he believed were underage girls has avoided prison.
John Gerrie used Facebook to try to speak to five different “children”, one of whom said they were 10-years-old.
However, the paedophile was actually chatting to adult decoys who he bombarded with sexual messages.
Gerrie was later confronted at his home by members of the vigilante group Groom Resisters Scotland.
The 54-year-old admitted attempting to communicate indecently with people he thought were children between May and June 2018 from his home on Lorimer Street, Dundee.
“You pleaded guilty to committing a series of significant sexual offences directed towards people you believed were young people,” Sheriff Alastair Carmichael said.
“The nature of these offences mean a custodial sentence is something I have to consider.
“I have to take account of the social work report that states although you do not have a learning difficulty, you are considered to be a vulnerable person.
“You have no previous convictions and you have not offended since 2018.
“In the particular circumstances of this case, I can go down a non-custodial route.”
Sex chat with ’12-year-old’
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Gerrie first used the Facebook account ‘Onn Gerrie’ to send messages to a person he believed was a 12-year-old child.
He was actually talking to a decoy from the No More Silent Voices group, which aims to root out online predators.
Fiscal depute Gavin Letford explained how Gerrie continually sent sexual messages to the “children”, despite being informed of their ages.
Mr Letford said: “The accused stated to the first complainer ‘you look nice’ before the decoy replied ‘are you okay that I’m 12?’
“The accused said ‘yes, you’re nice’.
“The conversation becomes sexualised and the accused talks about placing his hands down the child’s pants.”
Further online offending
Gerrie sent similar messages to two other decoys, posing as girls aged 12 and 13, from the Justice for the Innocent group, over the same period.
During some of the messaging, Gerrie said he would like to “cuddle and kiss” the supposed 12-year-old before suggesting they could sleep together.
Similar messages were sent to the other decoy, which included references to “feeling” them.
A decoy from For Our Kids UK, pretending to be a 10-year-old child, received messages from Gerrie saying he loved them and wanted to be their boyfriend.
Mr Letford said Gerrie made a string of sexual remarks to an independent decoy, posing as a 14-year-old girl.
“The accused said they looked nice and would love to get to know her.
“There were other messages saying he would love to feel her, which he explained that meant putting hands down one another’s pants.
“The messages became more explicit and referenced sexual acts.
“He said they could make love and it would be their secret.”
The chat logs were later passed to members of Groom Resisters Scotland, who filmed their confrontation at Gerrie’s home.
Two years on register
Gerrie pled guilty to five charges of sending sexual messages and attempting to communicate indecently with a person he believed to be a child, between May 29 and June 19, 2018.
Solicitor Douglas Thomson said: “He does not have his troubles to seek and he’s a very isolated man with limited social support.
“He has had no involvement with any form of online communication since.
“He will need to address very carefully what caused him to behave in the way he did.”
As an alternative to custody, Gerrie was made subject to supervision for two years and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for the same period.
He was ordered to comply with the Moving Forward Making Changes programme for sex offenders, as well as being placed on a conduct requirement restricting his access to the internet and contact with children.
