A sleazy chef who tried to seduce a 14-year-old girl online discovered the person he was talking to was a grown man pretending to be an underage schoolgirl, a court heard.

Herinder Singh was snared in the sting operation mounted by the ‘Wolf Pack’ paedophile hunters in January 2018.

He arranged to meet the decoy youngster for sex only to be confronted by members of the group, who streamed the embarrassing meeting live on Facebook .
The 50-year-old from Glasgow pled guilty to directing a sexual communication at a girl he believed to be a child over 13and under 16. He appeared for sentence at Livingston Sheriff Court today.

The court was told Singh started chatting online to the decoy on 18 January 2018.

He told her she was “gorgeous” with “beautiful eyes”, said his name was Harry M and sent her a picture of an Asian male claiming that he was 39-years-old and from Glasgow.

The decoy replied: “I’m 14 thanks. What are you on here for?” Singh replied that he was “looking for someone nice” and quickly turned the conversation to sexual matters.

Depute fiscal Jim Robertson said Singh told the decoy that he would like to “kiss her and suck her beautiful lips”.

He stressed that the decoy repeatedly made reference to being of school age and was careful not to use sexualized conversation.

On 20 January, he said, the accused suggested she moved their conversation to a more secure messenger platform then asked to meet up with her.

She told him she was nervous because she’d never kissed an older guy before. He responded: “Don’t worry. I’ll make you feel comfy. I can take your hand and sit you on my face.”

Mr Robertson said the accused asked the decoy to send him a photograph at one stage but she claimed to have a broken camera. In other messages Singh asked: “Have you ever seen cock?” She replied: “Just in school it was for sex ed.” He then sent messages explaining how to provide oral sex.

Mr Robertson said the Wolf Pack decoy brought the online conversation to an end on 25 January and contacted police.

On 3 February police arrested the accused for communicating indecently with the “child”.
During interview he claimed he didn’t know she was a child but made various admissions. He was subsequently cautioned and charged.

Sheriff Susan Craig said the social work report on Singh suggested alternatives to a prison sentence, although custody would always be considered as a first option for such serious matters.

She told the accused: “You must understand that the terms of that non-custodial sentence are specifically intended to provide protection to the public, so I’m going to require that you be under supervision for the maximum period available to me, which is three years.

“During that time you’ll be expected to carry out whatever work your supervising officer instructs and that’s likely to include work looking at your attitudes to pornography and women in general.”
She also ordered Singh to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and tagged him under a home curfew for six months.
In addition, she told him he would remain subject to the reporting requirements of the sex offenders’ register for five years.