HIGHLAND PAEDOPHILE SNARED BY UNDERCOVER OFFICER POSING AS 13-YEAR-OLD
A paedophile who was snared by an undercover police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl has been spared jail.
Andy Urquhart sent messages describing sexual acts and told her he wanted to have sex with her.
He also sent her pictures of a penis.
Urquhart, 31, appeared for sentencing at Inverness Sheriff Court having previously admitted charges of attempting to communicate indecently with a child and attempting to cause a child to view a sexual image.
The first charge involved him believing he was messaging a girl called Sofia, but was in fact communicating with a police officer.
He sent messages about sexual acts and claimed to be performing a solo sex act.
He asked the ‘girl’ for naked images and expressed desire for sexual intercourse.
The second charge describes how he sent a video and photo showing male genitalia.
The court was told Urquhart appeared to have genuine remorse, was socially isolated, and emotionally vulnerable.
Sheriff Gary Aitken placed him on a community payback order for three years, including participation in the Moving Forward to Change programme.
A risk assessment led to a sexual harm prevention order, restricting his contact with children, internet access, and monitoring him.
The order remains in place for five years, and he will stay on the sex offenders register for the same period.
This is a probabilistic continent or country-group signal from public name datasets. It is not proof of nationality, ethnicity or personal background.
Likely region signal
UK
Country
from United Kingdom
- based on first and surname
47.7%
confidence
First-name region
UK
United Kingdom
37.5%
Surname region
UK
United Kingdom
57.9%
Court Outcome
Conviction and Sentencing Details
Sentenced
Detected legal outcome
ppeared to have genuine remorse, was socially isolated, and emotionally vulnerable. Sheriff Gary Aitken placed him on a community payback order for three years, including participation in the Moving Forward to Change programme. A risk as...
Court order
A risk assessment led to a sexual harm prevention order, restricting his contact with children, internet access, and monitoring him
Sex Offenders Register
for five years
The order remains in place for five years, and he will stay on the sex offenders register for the same period
