A 78-year-old Fife man turned up at Leven promenade to meet someone he thought was a child after sending them sexual messages online.
David Moffat believed he was talking to a 12-year-old boy called Andy but was in fact speaking to an adult from the vigilante group Demon Hunters, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard.
Moffat, of Church Walk, Kinghorn, was later arrested by police and found with indecent images and videos of children on his phone.
He has now been put on the Sex Offenders Register.
Arranged meet-up with ‘child’
Moffat appeared in court to plead guilty to attempting to communicate indecently with a 12-year-old boy between September 19 and 25 2021, and carrying on the behaviour when the decoy turned 13 on September 26.
Prosecutor Ronnie Hay told the court the online conversation became sexualised and that Moffat wrote how he hoped he and the ‘boy’ could be “bi together” and “kiss, suck, f*** and w***”.
The fiscal depute said: “He also asked the decoy if he w***ed and if he got turned on by that.
“The accused told the decoy to come and meet him and arranged for meeting at the promenade in Leven”.
Mr Hay said the Demon Hunter group became involved and that Moffat had his phone open when he attended at the promenade.
Police were contacted and Moffat was taken into custody, as was his phone which contained a number of indecent images and evidence of material previously mentioned in relation to the decoy.
The fiscal depute said there were 13 images and nine videos rated category A – the most graphic kind – found on the phone. There were a further nine images of category C type.
Images exchanged
Mr Hay said examination of the phone revealed a conversation on the Kik messenger app between Moffat and an unknown user.
The court heard that Moffat received an indecent image from that profile and sent an indecent image back to them on a single occasion.
Moffat pleaded guilty to possessing indecent photographs of children between April 28 2017 and September 26 2021.
He further admitted distributing or showing indecent photographs on September 19 2021.
Sheriff Robert More adjourned sentencing until March 22 to obtain background reports and Moffat was bailed and placed on the Sex Offenders Register meantime.
Defence lawyer Alan Jackson said he would defer plea in mitigation for the production of reports.
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