A 31-YEAR-OLD man who sent messages of a sexual nature to a 14-year-old on a social media site has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for three years.

Ashley Bell of Earl Street, Hawick, was also sentenced to a three-year Community Payback Order.

Jedburgh Sheriff Court heard last Tuesday how Bell and been communicating with young females on Facebook, and some 500 private messages were found, including some of a sexually explicit nature in a conversation with a 14-year-old.

Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser said: “There was some concern about his behaviour contacting young females on Facebook.

“There were 500 private messages, several of a sexually explicit nature, and one particular conversation in the course of which the girl said she was 14.” The fiscal said that Bell told the girl “you don’t know what kind of weirdos are out there” and asked if it was her bedtime. He also enquired if she had “been to bed with a man” and asked if she got “horny”.

When the girl asked the accused what he looked like, he told her he was “fit and sexy” and had a “big c**k.” Defence lawyer Rory Bannerman said his client had sent “random messages”. He said: “This girl turned out to be 14 and as soon as he realised that, the conversation should have ended.”