A former Scottish youth football coach has been banned from areas frequented by children after he was caught grooming a 10-year-old.
Nicholas Henderson has been ordered to stay away from “parks, playgrounds and other places where people under 18 are likely to gather”.
An international investigation was sparked by his victim’s mother after she found Instagram messages in which Henderson was posing as a 12-year-old boy.
He was 29 and was coaching youngsters from Scone Thistle when he began using the site to groom a boy on the other side of the world.
Henderson was pretending to be 12 while he was trying to initiate sexual conversations with the boy in Adelaide, Australia. Perth Sheriff Court heard his victim had been having nightmares.
The court was told Henderson’s involvement with youth football had been brought to an end and that he was ashamed of his behaviour.
Henderson, of Brandywell Road, Abernethy, admitted pretending to be 12 to obtain sexual gratification by trying to engage a child in sexual conversation on November 16 2016.
Sheriff William Wood placed him on supervision and the sex offenders register for three years and ordered him to carry out 180 hours unpaid work in the community. He also imposed an order severely restricting his use of the internet and social media, and banning him from being around children.
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