A paedophile from Dundee caught sending sexual messages to what he thought was an underage girl has been jailed.
Repeat sex offender Stephen Capon was snared by a vigilante group who confronted him at his Dundee home.
The 49-year-old was caught sending vile WhatsApp messages and voice notes to a child, who was actually an adult from Scotland’s Child Protection Team.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard at Capon’s sentencing hearing how he has a previous sexual offence conviction from 2007 for which he received two years on probation.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael said: “This involved sending the most sexual messages to someone you believed to be a 13-year-old girl, including offering to teach her how to have sex.
“It wasn’t a one-off message – it was a series of messages sent over seven weeks.
“There is no reasonable alternative to a custodial sentence.”
Lewd chats
Prosecutor Sarah High previously described how Capon initiated contact then continued to engage even after the profile told him her age.
“The accused told the decoy he wished he was 13 so she could be his girlfriend.
“He asked her if she would ever meet him and if she would kiss him with tongues.
“If sent something inappropriate, she would send something child-like in response.
“All sexual communications were instigated by the accused.”
Capon told the decoy he wanted to give her a love bite and his messages became increasingly lewd.
He said he wanted to have sex, before communication moved to voice notes.
Hunter group sting
Capon was livestreamed by the paedophile hunter group at his former home in Charleston and gave a “no comment” response to police who arrested him.
Reports were ordered after Capon admitted sexually communicating with what he thought was a young child between February 7 and March 30 this year.
Solicitor Theo Finlay said: “This occurred at a difficult time in terms of his marital relationship.
“There seems to be issues with the breaking down of mental health.
There appears to have been alcohol misuse and it would be in the public interest to address any issues with an intensive and extensive order.
“I appreciate the court needs to consider public distaste for offences of this nature.”
Capon was placed on the sex offender’s register for 10 years after being sentenced to nine months in prison.
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