February 2014
Lorry driver groomed teenage girl after he dialled wrong number
A highly dangerous sex offender groomed a 15-year-old stranger after contacting her by accident when he dialled a wrong number.
John Simpson was already subject to a sweeping Sexual Offences Protection Order (SOPO) when he started sending inappropriate texts to the vulnerable teenager.
A court was told the girl, whose parents had recently split up, was emotionally fragile and was being groomed by Simpson, 48.
Mr Simpson kept sending texts to the girl after being told her age and even sent her his name and address despite being under a strict ten-year ban from contact with any female under-21.
Simpson, Rae Place, Perth, admitted having sexual communication with a 15-year-old girl by sending her texts between November 1 and December 1 last year.
Fiscal depute Stuart Richardson told Perth Sheriff Court: “The young lady was 15 and living with her grandparents. Her parents had split up in acrimonious circumstances and she was displaying behavioural issues.
“She was allowed to be the owner of a mobile phone. I don’t know how on earth the accused got her number but he did get it and started to send her texts.
“These were originally of a chatty nature, but as time went on they began to change in tone and he was asking if she was fat or skinny.”
His questioning became more intimidate. The fiscal added: “When asked later why she hadn’t told anybody, she said she regarded the accused as just another pervert.
“Eventually the matter was reported to the police. During the exchanges she had advised the accused she was 15, but at a later point advised him she was 18.”
Solicitor John McLaughlin, defending, said Simpson had never met the girl and did not know where she lived, and had only got in touch with her by chance.
“The initial contact came about because he telephoned a number for a friend and instead of the last digit being one, he pressed three in error, and came into contact with the girl.
“He wholly accepts the young lady was only 15. When she said she was 15 he texted her with his full name, address and telephone number and advised her to contact the police.
“You will see from his record he was already under police supervision. He doesn’t excuse his conduct, because he accepts that whatever age she was, he shouldn’t have been sending these texts and she wasn’t looking for them.
“He has been exceptionally concerned and frightened about the potential outcome of this case – and rightly he should be.”
Sheriff William Wood noted that Simpson’s behaviour had been “reckless” and deferred sentence upon him for the preparation of reports until April.
Simpson was made the subject of a SOPO in October 2007 after a sheriff ruled that he posed a serious danger and particularly targeted naive and immature women.
The lorry driver was banned from having solo contact with any woman or girl under 21 for a decade and jailed after he admitted going back and abusing his former victim.
The same court heard how Simpson sexually abused the same person 13 years later after she plucked up the courage to go to his home and confront him about the earlier attack.
At that time, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis, said: “It seems that you constitute a considerable and ongoing risk.”
