A paedophile who travelled 130 miles to meet a “14-year-old girl” in Fife has been hounded out of his home, a court has heard.
After making arrangements online, Allan Cruickshank travelled from Peterhead to Kirkcaldy with the intent of spending a night in a guest house, engaging in illegal sex.
Instead of meeting his target, he was snared by a vigilante group when he stepped off the bus in Fife, where it was revealed rather than making his sordid plan with a teenager, he had been talking to a decoy account.
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court the 63-year-old was placed on the sex offenders register for three years.
Sheriff Robert More told him:” You believed you were talking to a 14-year-old but it was what you describe as a ‘vigilante group’.
“This is a serious offence and the gravity of it would merit a custodial sentence.
“You report your house was targeted as a result of this and you had to leave.”
He recommended police be contacted over this, adding: “The courts will ways condemn those that take the law into their own hands.”
Cruickshank was also sentenced to a 160-day curfew and placed on a three-year supervision order.
He told a social worker compiling a pre-sentencing report his actions had been a “mistake”.
Solicitor David Bell, representing the accused, said: “Perhaps his use of the phrase ‘mistake’ is somewhat minimising… but although he has previous convictions none of those are analogous.”
He revealed Cruickshank had pled guilty to breaching bail at Peterhead Sheriff Court by “accidentally” deleting an item from his phone.
Cruickshank, of Peterhead, admitted attempting to communicate with a child in July last year and arranging to meet someone he believed to be a child for illegal sex.
The court previously heard he started an online conversation with the decoy saying, “Hi beautiful” and was quickly told the girl was 14.
He asked if he could be her boyfriend before engaging in graphic sexual instructions.
He arranged to meet the “girl” and said he had booked a B&B in Leven for them to spend the night together.
He told her to say she was his daughter when they got there.
“We can have sex. I will be your first BF,” he wrote.
On the day of their planned meeting, Cruickshank got on an early morning bus from Peterhead and was posting regular updates and photos from his journey.
When he arrived at Kirkcaldy, he was confronted by the paedophiles hunters and police were called.
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