A 49-year-old Dundee man who supplied a 15-year-old Angus girl with so-called legal highs in exchange for a sex act in the back of his works van has been jailed for 32 months.
Derek Stewart will also remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely for the offence, which he carried out within a few hours of learning the youngster’s real age after arranging to meet her for “fun” after school and having messaged the girl to ask her whether she would be wearing her uniform.
Stewart admitted an indictment at Forfar Sheriff Court of sending the girl messages via the KIK messenger platform in early March last year and engaging in sexual activity with the girl at a location in Angus.
Depute fiscal Eilidh Robertson said Stewart, of Hazelwood Close in Dundee, had contacted the girl through the messaging platform and he arranged to give her so-called legal highs, meeting her in Dundee to hand over one gramme of the substances.
The teenager later arranged to meet Stewart again for more legal highs, but when she offered him money for them he said he would rather spend time with her and “have fun”.
After the offence in the van, Stewart messaged the teenager saying: “Even though it was quick it was brill, made my day xx Dek”.
The following day he messaged her: “Not right is it, so young and I’m so much older I gotta admit I did feel a lil guilty later like I was taking advantage of you x.”
Defence solicitor Brian Bell said Stewart, now 50, believed the girl was 16 from her KIK profile, but accepted he knew her real age from the exchange of messages just hours before the offence.
Sheriff Gregor Murray told Stewart he regarded the offences as being at the “upper end of the scale”.
He said Stewart’s forward planning, the nature of the act, the supply of the legal highs and the significant age difference were all key factors in the offence.
He added: “It’s clear from the texts she revealed a degree of vulnerability which you exploited.
“It was initiated by you and you continued to use highly sexualised language. There is no alternative to imprisonment.”
The sentence prompted a warning to those who may target young people through social media platforms for the purposes of sexual activity.
Detective Inspector Scott Fotheringham said: “This was a protracted police investigation carried out by the Public Protection Unit in Tayside Division.”
He added: “Today’s sentencing sends a clear message to those persons who seek to target children and young people in this manner for the purposes sexual activity.”