Shamed rugby youth team manager who sent schoolboys indecent images placed on sex offenders register

Steven Dyer sent the boys sexual videos and pictures while they were part of a Scotland international youth squad on a training camp a trip in Wales in 2023.

Dyer posted a video of him urinating along with a second clip of him licking his finger in a provocative manner to a group Snapchat account the young boys had access to.

The 27-year-old hotel manager also sent one player an image of him engaging in sexual intercourse and made remarks about the size of the boy’s penis. The shamed rugby coach was caught when a shocked parent of one victim became aware of the online messages and contacted a teacher at the child’s school in Edinburgh.

Steven Dyer was found guilty | Alexander Lawrie

Dyer was suspended by the sport’s governing body Scottish Rugby and was sacked from his job with Lloyds Banking Group when finance bosses were made aware of the charges.

He denied the allegations and claimed the communication was part of “rugby banter” and what he had sent to the WhatsApp group was “nothing of a sexual nature”.

But the youth team boss was found guilty of three offences of intentional indecent communication between February and October 2023 following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month. He returned to the dock for sentencing on Friday where Sheriff Daniel Kelly said: “The boys and their families put their trust in you that they would be looked after and you have seriously breached that trust.”

Dyer, from Newton St Boswalls, Scottish Borders, escaped custody and was instead placed on community payback order involving a nine month supervision order and 200 hours of unpaid work.

Dyer will also be electronically tagged and have to stay within his home between 7pm and 7am for three months and was issued with non-harassment orders banning him from having any contact with the three victims for two years. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for five years and his name will be forwarded to Scottish Ministers who will consider if he is to be banned from working with children and vulnerable adults in the future.

The trial heard from the three victims who were members of the Scotland youth squad and said Dyer had posted the inappropriate content to the group’s Snapchat.

The boys said they received a video of Dyer urinating, a second one of him sitting on a couch licking his finger and said he had made remarks to them about his sexual exploits. They also told the court Dyer had made comments regarding the size of their penis.

One player said he had been “significantly affected by the whole situation” and he had asked Dyer to stop sending the material. A second player said he was left “embarrassed” and considered what had been sent as “inappropriate”.

The court heard Dyer was team manager of the Scotland youth squad and his duties included making the travel and accommodation arrangements for the training camp in Wales.

Dyer told the court he was part of a Snapchat group set up by one of the players and told the court they sent each other “rude” messages that he believed to be “friendly banter”. He admitted sending a video of him urinating into a toilet and said the group chat members would regularly call each other names including “fatty”, “wee d***” and “prawn d***”.

He denied there was any sexual motivation into him sending the images or to him making the comments to the youth players.

A Scottish Rugby spokesperson said: “We take the welfare of everyone in our sport very seriously and Scottish Rugby welcomes the strong sentence and message delivered at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.

“Mr Dyer’s actions breached the trust given to him, clearly impacting the young people he was in contact with. He was removed from all rugby activities in October 2023, when the first the complaint was made, and this remains the case.

“Scottish Rugby continues to support those affected by this case.”