A former coach at Scone Thistle pretended to be aged 12 to speak to a child on Instagram.
On Tuesday, Perth Sheriff Court heard how Nicholas Henderson, 29, of Brandywell Road, Abernethy, contacted the 10-year-old boy through social media and used inappropriate sexual language which resulted in the boy being “scared and nervous” and reporting the matter to his mother.
Depute fiscal Carol Whyte said: “The accused was a coach of a boys’ under-15 football team at Scone Thistle and began communicating with the boy who lived in Australia through Instagram.”
The court heard the initial messages from Henderson consisted of saying “Hi” but then the accused started asking the boy if he had a girlfriend, and, if so, if he kissed her.
“The boy thought this was weird as he hadn’t heard people talking like this when he was with his friends at a local skate park,” Mrs Whyte added.
“But the accused persisted talking about girls and then used sexual language which made the boy scared and nervous. He later said it made him feel like butterflies were in his belly and so he decided to tell his mum.
“The accused had told the boy he was 12 years old and was using his uncle’s Instagram account.”
The court heard that the boy’s mother took her son’s mobile phone and managed to find details about Henderson, including his Facebook profile which stated he lived in Perthshire and was a football coach.
Mrs Whyte said the boy’s mother took screenshots of the chain of Instagram messages and then contacted Police Scotland about the matter. Scone Thistle were also notified of the offence.
“The boy had told his mum he was now scared to talk to new friends and suffered some nightmares which featured the accused coming to get him and tell him off,” she commented.
Henderson admitted that on November 16, 2016, he pretended to be a 12-year-old child in order to obtain sexual gratification by communicating messages of a sexual nature with a child.
Sheriff William Wood deferred sentence on Henderson until August 20 for background reports. He was allowed bail on condition that he allows computer software to be forensically examined by police, is not allowed to be in the company of children aged under 16 and was placed on the sex offenders’ register.
