Craig Thomson faces court over sex offenders' order breach

Edinburgh Sheriff Court. File picture: Ian Georgeson

Former Hearts defender Thomson was put on the sex offenders’ register in 2011 after he was convicted of preying on young girls online.

Thomson, from Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, had befriended a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old schoolgirl on Facebook before sending one of them an explicit picture.

As part of his original sentence in 2011, Thomson was told he had to sign in to his local police station if he was planning on moving house or leaving the country.

But the full back failed to inform the authorities of his plans before he flew out to the Spanish holiday resort of Alicante with friends last May.

Thomson appeared in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today after previously admitting the breach of his conditions. He pleaded guilty to failing to notify the authorities of his travel plans before the departure between May 14 and 18 last year.

The court heard this was the first time 24-year-old footballer, who is currently playing for junior outfit Newtongrange Star, had breached his sex offenders’ order and had shown “full compliance” apart from his holiday breach last May.

Sheriff Gordon Liddle decided to defer sentence for the preparation of up-to-date reports to later this month.

Following his conviction Thomson never played for Hearts again and was sent out on loan to Lithuanian clubs FC Kaunas and Suduva.