A shocked mum had to call in police after she discovered her ex from Dundee was regularly taking her child to visit a drinking den filled with convicted sex offenders.
The horror details emerged during a court case against Nathan Gray, 27, of Arklay Street, who has been jailed for 11 months for breaching a sexual offences prevention order that banned him from any contact with children under the age of 16.
Gray, 27, was given the order after serving an 18-month jail term in 2014 for having sex with a 14-year-old girl he met on Facebook.
But just five months after being placed on the order – and with cops concerned about his connections with other sex offenders – Gray was repeatedly in contact with the child, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The child’s father, who is separated from her mother, was allowed regular contact with the child.
But he repeatedly – between eight to 11 times – took the child to Gray’s flat.
Fiscal depute Vicki Bell told Dundee Sheriff Court that a witness said when she had been there friends of Gray – also registered sex offenders – were present and they spent time drinking and socialising.
Miss Bell said: “She was aware the accused had been to prison but was unaware what for and unaware that he was a registered sex offender.
“After being informed by a social worker she later went to the flat and saw the man and his daughter were there.
“The three-year-old was in the living room with the accused.
“The witness took the father aside and asked him what he was doing leaving his daughter with the accused but he said he didn’t have an issue with it, despite seeming to be fully aware of the accused’s status as a registered sex offender.
“The man told his daughter that the accused was called James as he did not want the child’s mother to find out he had been associating with the accused.”
The shocked woman later told the child’s mother via Facebook of Gray’s contact with the child.
She confronted the girl’s father but he denied even knowing the accused.
The mother stopped contact with the father and contacted police.
When cops arrested him Gray threatened to stab the woman who had informed the girls’ mother.
Gray pleaded guilty on indictment to breaching a sexual offences prevention order and behaving in a threatening and abusive manner at Dundee Police HQ after he was detained by cops on November 18 last year.
Defence solicitor Larry Flynn said: “The man was in the habit of taking the child to Mr Gray’s flat and the mother had no idea.”
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC jailed Gray for 11 months.
She said: “It is of some concern that you have breached this order by being in the company of a child – it was not just a one off.
“Custody is inevitable – it is a very serious matter.”
In Gray’s earlier case the court heard was in touch with the girl on Facebook before the incident – which left the girl “distressed and tearful”.
She gave him her mobile number and he text her on May 30 2014 to ask how she was doing.
When she replied that she had truanted from school Gray asked her to come round to his home in Dundee where he got into bed with her and had sex with her.
A sheriff told Gray he had “taken advantage” of the girl – and sent him to prison.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.