A Fife religious education teacher accused of planning to have sex with a 14-year-old girl will not stand trial after judges ruled he was the victim of police entrapment.
Iain Parkinson, 52, who taught at Kirkcaldy High School, was lured by undercover officers using the website fabswingers.com to talk about the prospect of engaging in sexual activity with a child – even though he had never previously expressed any interest in original chat logs examined by police.
The sting came after arrangements were made for Mr Parkinson to meet the husband of a woman he had been chatting with online at a Travelodge before being taken to her home for sex on May 30 2016.
The woman was, in actual fact, an uncover officer posing as someone called ‘Lisa’, who had been involved in a number of chat conversations with Mr Parkinson between May 24 and May 30 2016.
During those exchanges, ‘Lisa’ had made reference to a fictitious 14-year-old daughter and said her daughter would be in the house at the time of their arranged liaison.
However, Mr Parkinson’s solicitors have successfully argued their client had never expressed any interest in abusing children during web chats.
In a written ruling, Lord Carloway noted: “The respondent asked when her (the daughter’s) bedtime was; suggesting that sexual contact would only take place after the daughter was out of the way.
“He asked Lisa if she would be comfortable engaging in sex whilst her daughter was in the next room.
“There was a short chat about sexual activity between the respondent, Lisa and her daughter, in which the respondent stated that he had not previously been involved with an underage girl.
“On May 30, an arrangement was made for the respondent to meet Lisa’s husband at a Travelodge before being taken to her home.
“During this call, the respondent made reference to engaging in sexual activity with the daughter.”
Police had been investigating the fabswingers website following reports that certain communications between two unnamed people contained messages relating to the sexual abuse of children.
The content of Mr Parkinson’s chat did not involve children, but he had had contact with one or both of the people identified by police – sparking the undercover operation.
The Crown had appealed a sheriff’s decision not to go to trial based upon the entrapment of Mr Parkinson, but High Court judges have now refused that appeal.
Lord Carloway ruled that the initial reference to the daughter by police in conversations had provoked no reaction from Mr Parkinson, while when he was asked specifically about what he was “in to”, and then what his fantasies might be, he made no mention of the daughter or children in general.
Lord Carloway also said that, at the point of the initial discussion about the daughter being in the next room, the context of what he said did not involve sexual activity with the daughter, but “concern in relation to her presence”.
And he noted that it was only when the police introduced the idea of the daughter entering the bedroom during sexual activity between the respondent and other adults that there was any mention by him of engaging in any activity involving the daughter.
Mr Parkinson had been charged at Falkirk Sheriff Court of engaging in online conversations with others “for the purpose of gaining access to a 14-year-old girl” and travelling with condoms and lubricant to a hotel “for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with a child”.
