Pervert caught in sting trying to meet '13-year-old girl' at Edinburgh Castle

A pervert who arranged to meet up with who he believed to be a 13-year-old schoolgirl outside Edinburgh Castle for a sexual encounter has dodged prison.

Pervert at large: Wilson

George Wilson sent sleazy comments to the ‘schoolgirl’s’ online account after contacting her on a chat room site in 2019.

Dad-of-one Wilson then asked to meet up with the girl calling herself ‘Sophie’ near the castle.

But the 34-year-old was met by members of paedophile hunter group Groom Resistors Scotland who had set up a sting operation.

The hunter group had set up the fake account in the name of Sophie in a bid to snare adults who indecently communicate with children.

The sting was then live-streamed to around 3000 viewers on the group’s Facebook page.

Wilson appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month where he admitted to sending sexually explicit messages to a child between July 29 and August 9, 2019.

He returned to the dock and Sheriff Alistair Noble placed him on a community payback order and the Sex Offenders’ Register for 18 months.

Wilson was placed on a supervision order and has been banned from being in the company of children under the age of 17 apart from his own child.

He has also been banned from deleting any internet history and will have to give up any device for inspection when asked to do so.

Previously the court was told Wilson, from Restalrig, Edinburgh, contacted an online profile in the name of a child called Sophie on an internet chat room site on July 29, 2019.

Wilson had the user name of ‘Leith Guy’ and stated his name was George and he was 32-years-old and lived in Edinburgh.

Fiscal depute Jack Caster said the adult decoy behind Sophie’s account replied “she was 13-years-old” and that Wilson continued to communicate with her.

Wilson asked the girl if she was single and asked her to send him a picture of herself despite being aware that she was under age and that he was committing an offence.

The chats then moved to the WhatsApp application where Wilson sent the indecent comments to the youngster, further incriminating himself.

The comments sent by Wilson included asking “You got any hair? You shave?”, “Have you ever play in bed?” and “Is your bum little?”.

The dad also posted “You want me to kiss you?” and “You look sexy in yours [picture]”.

Mr Caster said: “The accused and [the girl] arranged to meet in Edinburgh city centre on August 9, 2019.

“The accused asked her to meet him near Edinburgh Castle at around 12pm. He explained he would be wearing blue Adidas All-star trainers.”

The paedo hunters arrived early and recognised Wilson due to his distinctive footwear and saw him “walking up the steps next to Camera Obscura”.

The group then confronted the dad-of-one and live-streamed the sting meeting on their Facebook page.

Wilson pleaded guilty to sending sexually explicit messages for the purposes of humiliating, distressing or alarming a person on various social media platforms between July 29 and August 9, 2019.

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