Family of 11-year-old girl targeted by paedo furious as he escapes jail

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Scots charity worker sent vile sexual messages to an 11-year-old schoolgirl before attempting to meet up with her.Crawford Robertson lured the child into chatting to him on the Snapchat app by pretending to be a teenager before he began sending her the sordid messages.

Robertson, 22, told the vulnerable victim he wanted to kiss her and asked her to engage in sexual activity with him and then arranged to meet up in Edinburgh in November 2022.The pervert turned to meet up with the youngster at the capital's Wester Hailes shopping centre but ran off when a family friend of the child's parents intervened.

Robertson was later arrested by police and he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in October last year where he pleaded guilty to two sexual offences involving the child.He admitted sending indecent communication to the youngster and attempting to meet up her with the intention of engaging in sexual activity.

Robertson returned to the dock for sentencing on Friday, January 10, where Sheriff Matthew Auchincloss spared him custody and instead issued an "onerous" community payback order.The sheriff said: "Quite clearly you have pled guilty to two serious charges which will be of concern to the public.