An Edinburgh man who was the subject of a public police missing person appeal last week, was due to appear in court after he was caught in an undercover police sting.

Coen Bust went missing on the day he should have appeared in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to be sentenced for sending sick messages to who he believed was a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Bust, 47, used the name Buttery Robot to make contact with a profile in the name of Sophie on the Chat Avenue forum before he moved the messaging to the Snapchat app in August 2023.

But instead of a child, the Dutch national was in fact speaking to an undercover police officer who was working online in a bid to snare child sex offenders.

Police officers turned up at the internet web developer’s former home at the capital’s New Town with a search warrant on September 12, 2023 and he was subsequently arrested and charged.

Bust pled guilty to the offence on January 30 this year and was placed on the sex offenders register on an interim basis by Sheriff Wendy Sheehan.

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He was due to be sentenced on March 13 but did not attend and the hearing was continued to Thursday last week. But when the case called defence agent Ross Gardner described his client as “a missing person” and Sheriff Sheehan said she was issuing a non-appearance warrant for his arrest.

Police Scotland launched a manhunt for Bust after he failed to return to his home at the Stockbridge area of the city on Thursday March 13. Police issued a photograph of the missing man and appealed for the public’s help to try and trace him.

He was last seen getting off a train at Dunkeld Train Station, Perthshire, at 10.18am on Thursday, March 13. Bust had left Edinburgh Waverley Station at 8.30am that same day.

Inspector Alison Lawrie, Drylaw Police Station, said: “We want to trace Coen Bust as quickly as possible and I would ask anyone with any information to please contact Police Scotland.

“If you have private CCTV footage in the Dunkeld or Birnam areas or dashcam footage from the areas surrounding Dunkeld or Birnam around the time Mr Coen was in Dunkeld, please review it and contact us with anything relevant.

““No matter how small it may seem, it may help us find him. I am also appealing directly to Mr Bust himself to get in touch with the police.“

If you can help, please call Police Scotland on 101, quoting reference number 2616 of Thursday, 13 March, 2025.

Missing Edinburgh man was due in court after online police paedophile undercover sting