A BARRHEAD pervert who sent vile messages and explicit photos of himself to what he thought was a 12-year-old girl has been jailed.

Stewart Henderson, 54, was snared after a sting involving an adult decoy.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard how a group of adults known as Shatter The Silence set up decoy accounts using pictures of children who are now over the age of 21 and have given consent for these to be used.

On July 20 last year, Henderson sent a message on the Jaumo dating app to an account set up by a decoy who stated she was a 12-year-old girl named Darcy.

After asking 'Darcy' to move the conversation to WhatsApp, Henderson sent a number of messages, as well as photos of his genitals.

He even provided his address and asked her to send him a pair of pants for his birthday.

Two people from Shatter The Silence later confronted Henderson at his home, as well as live-streaming the meeting on Facebook Live.

Police arrived a short time later and, after speaking to Henderson, he was cautioned.

In court, Henderson admitted that, between July 20 and August 21 last year, at Fenwick Drive, Barrhead, and elsewhere, he sent sexually-explicit messages to someone he thought was a 12-year-old child but was, in fact, an adult decoy.

He was convicted of a similar crime last year after sending disgusting messages and explicit photos of himself to someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

That offence, which took place in August and September 2020, saw Henderson repeatedly message an adult from the Elite Solo Decoys group, as he thought she was a teenager named Daniella.

Over the course of six days, he sent ‘Daniella’ a string of vile messages on Facebook, asking her to send him her underwear and indecent pictures of herself.

He dodged a jail sentence on that occasion, with a sheriff instead ordering him to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and attend a ‘Moving Forward, Making Changes’ programme, which works with sex offenders in the area.

Henderson was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for three years and told his sentence was a direct alternative to custody.

Now he is behind bars after being handed a 21-month prison term when he returned to court this week to be sentenced for his latest offence.

This was reduced from 28 months, as he had admitted his guilt.

Sheriff Eoin McGinty also imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for five years that will prohibit Henderson from having contact with anyone under the age of 16 and prevent him from deleting any internet browsing history, call logs and text messages on any device he uses.

Henderson was also told he will be placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years.