FORMER CHEF PLEADS GUILTY TO SEXUAL OFFENCES
A chef was caught in an undercover police operation designed to catch online paedophiles.Andrew Wood, aged 45, engaged with an online profile created by authorities under the guise of a young girl named ‘Maisie,’ and sent explicit sexual comments along with images of an erect penis.
Over approximately four weeks last year, Wood repeatedly urged ‘Maisie’ to send videos of herself performing a sexual act solo, despite being informed multiple times that the girl was just 13 years old.
Additionally, the unemployed chef inquired about her sexual history and tried to coax her into undressing and sending nude images.
The police set up the social media account as part of an operation targeting online predators, leading to Wood’s exposure.
He was detained and charged with serious sexual offences after police raided his residence in Penicuik, Midlothian, in October of the previous year.
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court on June 18, Wood admitted to attempting to cause a child to view sexual images and to engaging in sexually explicit online communication with a minor.
During the court hearing, prosecutor Rachel Hill explained that Wood initially contacted the social media account on July 24 last year, using an application where messages are usually swiftly deleted.
Despite being told the girl was only 13, the interaction escalated, and contact moved to Snapchat within days.
The court was told Wood had asked the child “are you a naughty girl?” and he had asked her to send him images of her in a state of undress.
Ms Hill said Wood also described how the girl could masturbate and asked her to asked him a video of her carrying out the act.
Wood also sent the child “multiple images of an adult erect penis” during the sordid contact.
Police officers raided Wood’s family home on October 9 and that he had “spoken freely” about the offending during a subsequent police interview and claimed he had no sexual interest in children.
Lawyer James McMacken, defending, said his client was currently unemployed and is “extremely remorseful and accepts the wrongfulness of his actions”.
Sheriff Matthew Auchincloss said: “You are facing a custodial sentence here but before I decide on the appropriate sentence I will call for justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment.” Wood was placed on the sex offenders register on an interim basis and sentence was deferred for the preparation of the reports to next month.
