October 2018 Pervert escapes prison sentence Sheriff Alison Stirling decided to spare the pervert from a custodial sentence and instead placed him on a supervision order for three years and told him to complete 200 hours of unpaid work in the community. Sheriff Stirling also placed Barr on the sex offenders register four three years and added he must take part in sessions with a sex offender treatment programme. August 2018 Scottish pervert snared by Wolfpack paedo hunters A pervert who arranged to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex was caught out in a vigilante sting – just six weeks after his name was taken off the sex offenders register. Edward Barr planned to hook up with a schoolgirl named Nicky Walker after chatting to ‘her’ online. The beast turned up for the planned sexual encounter carrying a tube of lubricant. Barr travelled from his then-home in Whitburn, West Lothian, to meet the girl in Edinburgh earlier this year but when he arrived at the agreed destination he was met by members of the Wolf Pack Hunters UK group. The group had set up the fake online account in a bid to snare child sex abusers like Barr. Barr was previously caught with child abuse images on his mobile and was placed under supervision and on the sex offenders register for two years following an appearance at Livingston Sheriff Court in 2015. The 29-year-old’s chef’s name was taken off the child abuser’s register in December last year after he had completed his sentence – just six weeks before he was caught looking for children to abuse on the internet. Barr admitted communicating with Margaret Johnston, who he believed to be 13-year-old Nicky Walker, and make arrangements to meet up to engage in sexual activity between January 31 and February 5 this year when he appeared in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court this afternoon. The sicko, who currently lives in Livingston, is now facing a prison sentence after a sheriff told him she was “seriously considering custody in this case”. Fiscal depute Kim Schofield said: “Initially the conversations [between Barr and the decoy] were nonsexual but it developed to discussing sex at the behest of the accused. The decoy said she was 13. “On January 4 this year the accused asked the decoy if they could meet up with the intention of having sex. “He said he was off work the following day and arrangements were made to meet at her house.” The following day Barr emailed the decoy to say he was on his way to the meeting point near an underpass in Sighthill, Edinburgh. The Wolf Pack Hunters UK decoy then contacted other members of the vigilante group to alert them Barr was travelling to Edinburgh to meet her. The fiscal added: “The Hunters approached him at a bus stop at around 1.20pm. The accused confirmed he was there to meet the 13-year-old female and police were contacted. “They arrived at 1.45pm to find the accused surrounded. They intervened and the accused was arrested and was found in possession of a mobile phone and a tube of lubricant.” Sheriff Alison Stirling told Barr there was “no guarantee he would receive a community-based disposal” when he returned to court and placed him back on the sex offenders register for a time still to be determined. Sheriff Stirling, who deferred sentence for the preparation of reports and a risk assessment, added: “You have to accept, standing your previous conviction, that I am seriously considering custody in your case.”