Sex offender avoided police checks by sleeping rough

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A sex offender who avoided police checks by sleeping rough has been jailed for a year.Scott Notman, also a convicted football hooligan, lied to police by saying he had been in hospital when they were looking for him in Airdrie.The 49-year-old admitted failing to disclose a change of address within three days.Notman was put on the sex offenders’ register for five years in July 2023 after being caught in a paedophile sting.He used an online dating site to contact a female he believed to be aged 14.‘Emma’ turned out to be an adult member of a vigilante group posing as a teenager.Notman arranged to meet her for sex but didn’t turn up.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android Airdrie Sheriff Court heard this week that police officers from the sex offenders’ monitoring unit went to Notman’s home in Scott’s Place, Airdrie, for a routine check four times in October this year.There was no sign of him and housing officers who turned up with an eviction notice also got no reply.Annette Ward, prosecuting, said: “Police officers traced him in a social work office in Bellshill on November 5.“He claimed he had been in Monklands Hospital between October 18 and November 4.“Enquiries at the hospital established he’d attended at the emergency unit on November 3 but was discharged after examination.”Defence lawyer Tony