Supervision for man who messaged trio of teenage girls

Lerwick Sheriff Court

A 38-year-old man who sent sexual messages to three teenage girls while pretending to be 19 has been placed under supervision and made subject to a conduct requirement order.

Grant James Morris of Voeside, Bressay, previously admitted sending sexually explicit messages to the underage girls via social media.

While doing so, he pretended to be a 19-year-old called Grant Merryfield from Edinburgh.

Defence agent Keith Tuck said that Morris had accepted responsibility for his actions and had done “a great deal” to own up afterwards.

Mr Tuck said that Morris “clearly needs to be punished”, but said he had already paid “a significant penalty” – having recently lost his job as a result.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank told Lerwick Sheriff Court that the threshold for a custodial sentence “has been met”.

But after reading a social work report, he said Morris had “accepted responsibility” for what had happened.

He placed Morris under supervision for a period of two years, and ordered him to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work.

Sheriff Cruickshank also made Morris subject to a conduct requirement order, which means he cannot own or use a device with access to the internet without prior approval.

He must also not delete messages and must make any device available to be searched by social workers at their request.