A father-of-two who shared photos online of local schoolgirls and encouraged their sexual abuse was snared by an undercover cop.
Stuart Betts, 49, believed he was sharing messages with a fellow predator.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard on Tuesday how Betts suggested the two girls be sexually attacked in their beds by a “gang”.
But he was actually in contact with a Police Scotland online undercover operative known as “Steve D”, who was attempting to gather intelligence against adults seeking to sexually abuse children.
Last June, Steve D was contacted by a user with the name “Bi Perv M”, later discovered to be Betts, in a channel called Rabbit.
Betts sent the officer a “non-indecent” photo of the two children and an adult, and disclosed his sexual interest in the kids who he said lived in Edinburgh.
He then sent six further non-indecent images of the girls, then aged 17 and 14, in their school uniforms.
Betts contacted the officer on a series of occasions and made “sexual comments” about the children.
Prosecutor Anna Robertson said: “The accused showed a strong hatred and aggression towards 13 to 15-year-old girls and suggested Steve D find other “pervs” to abuse the girls.”
Ms Robertson said Betts made sickening suggestions about how the girls should be sexually abused, with gangs involved.
The court heard how Betts bragged about spending the weekend carrying out sex acts while imagining the girls being abused. Betts, a first offender, obtained the images of the Edinburgh girls from Facebook.
Police traced the IP address to his home in the city’s Duddingston area and recovered a computer.
They found indecent images or pseudo images of children, including four in category A – the most extreme in the scale.
Betts, who is married with two sons, admitted making aggressive, offensive and sexualised remarks on the social media platform, stating his desire to sexually abuse the two girls.
He also pled guilty to suggesting to others that they carry out sexual abuse towards them.
Sheriff Robert Fife deferred sentence until next month. Betts was placed on the sex offenders’ register and bail was continued.
