"Paedophile Hunter" Facing Jail
A self-proclaimed paedophile hunter is facing jail - after he used an 11-year-old girl's phone to solicit child abuse images from other sex offenders.
A self-proclaimed paedophile hunter is facing jail - after he used an 11-year-old's phone to solicit child abuse images from other sex offenders.
Stevan Hogg took the girl's phone as she slept then logged into an online messaging service where he had a succession of abuse images sent to him by another user.
The girl later woke up and discovered the phone was missing - and found it in sleeping Hogg's hand.
She looked through it and found the disturbing messages before immediately alerting her mother.
Police attended and saw the five pictures - then analysed computers found at the address and discovered "concerning" web searches for abuse terms.
Hogg then told cops he would "lead paedophiles on" on the internet - before "pretending he was a police officer to scare them".
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court: "He said it was an addiction - that he was addicted to scaring people.
"He accepted the searches were made by him on the computer but said it was because he wanted to pretend to be a police officer to scare paedophiles.
"He was asked about his conversations with the unknown person who sent him the images and him asking them to send more photos.
"He said he was doing it to lure them in.
Miss Robertson added: "When the girl found the messages on the phone she shouted her mother and was shaking and crying.
"She saw the indecent images on the phone and the accused was then confronted.
"The girl was interviewed and spoke of the accused using the computer and Playstation to talk to girls who looked way younger than him."
Hogg, 23, from Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to charges of taking or making indecent images of children on June 14 last year, breaching bail on January 25 this year and failing to attend at court for a hearing on March 24 this year.
Defence solicitor Gregor Sim asked that Hogg not be placed on the sex offender's register as it may be argued there was "no significant sexual element" to his crime.
Sheriff Alistair Carmichael deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports.
He was placed on the sex offender's register ahead of his sentencing date.