Man found guilty of sexually assaulting child at East Lothian beach warned he faces lengthy jail term

Morgan Sinclair drove one victim to the secluded beach area where he would use the torch on his phone to watch the boy urinating before offering to help him and attempt to touch him.

Sinclair, 26, molested the boy by touching his thigh and penis while the pair sat in his vehicle at a car park near the beach in Port Seton during the depraved incidents. He also sent the lad messages of a sexual nature over social media asking about puberty and his sexual experiences, all between 2020 and 2022.

A second victim told a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court that Sinclair had made sexual remarks to him concerning solo sex acts. The boy said he also received social media messages from Sinclair asking about his sexuality and about the appearance and size of his penis.

Sinclair, from Dalkeith, Midlothian, denied all the allegations against him but was found guilty of three sexual offences by a jury following a four day trial at the capital court this week.

While giving evidence Sinclair told the jury he denied grooming or touching any of the children and had not spoken to them about them masturbating. He admitted joking with one of the children about the size of their penis but denied asking for images of their genitals to be sent to him.

Morgan Sinclair, 26, pictured outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court. | Alexander Lawrie

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The jury returned majority guilty verdicts on three charges on Thursday but cleared Sinclair of a fourth charge of him allegedly asking a child to perform a sex act in his car in exchange for buying cigarettes.

Following the verdict, Sheriff Julius Komorowski said: “The offences the jury have convicted you of are profoundly serious and there is some prospect that the penalty for you will be a substantial period of imprisonment.”

The sheriff placed Sinclair on the sex offenders register on an interim basis and released him on bail. Sentence was deferred for criminal justice social work reports and a restriction of liberty order assessment to be prepared to next month.

Sinclair was found guilty of sexually assaulting a child aged between 13 and 15 at Port Seton beach in East Lothian on various occasions between March 13, 2020 and March 12, 2022. He was also found to have sent the same child messages of a sexual nature on various occasions between the same dates.

He was also found guilty of uttering sexual remarks to a second child and sending him messages of a sexual nature on social media on various occasions between June 1 and August 25, 2023.