A CREEP who sent sexual messages to what he thought were girls aged 12 and 14 has dodged jail after being confronted by paedophile hunters in a widely-shared online sting.

Barry Tidswell, 39, was placed on supervision for two years – with no unpaid work – and ordered to receive treatment when he returned to the dock last week [Monday, August 17].

He previously pled guilty back in March to causing a young child to look at a sexual image and sexually communicating with a young child after finding himself stung and broadcast on Facebook when he thought he was going to meet the girl.

Tidswell also admitted a second charge of causing a person pretending to be a young child to receive a sexual communication at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court .

Sick Tidswell, of Churchill Drive, Ardrossan, was confronted by several members of the Child Protectors Scotland group when the Herald and our sister paper the Irvine Times reported his arrest outside the Rivergate, on Sunday, June 2, last year.

The Procurator Fiscal told how both recipients of the messages were actually members of the group, who he met through the Skout social media app between May 11 and June 1 last year.

Tidswell told the first recipient, who he believed to be 12, he loved her and asked her to be his girlfriend.

He sent her an indecent image and an obscene message, to which the recipient replied she was 12, with Tidswell saying he would be ‘careful’.

The court heard Tidswell also attempted to video call her but the calls were not accepted.

In the same period he spoke to a male member of Child Protectors Scotland who told him ‘she’ was 14.

Tidswell asked if she had a boyfriend, then asked if she was looking for one when he said no, and said she looked ‘beautiful’ in her photos. The prosecutor said the sting took place on June 2 between members of the group and Tidswell.

When asked in a police interview if he had sent the messages Tidswell replied ‘possibly’.

The court heard Tidswell previously appeared in private on June 3 last year where bail was granted.

Sheriff Alistair Watson called the offences ‘very serious’ and Tidswell’s behaviour ‘reprehensible’ and ‘disgusting’.

He added that it didn’t matter if he wasn’t actually speaking to children as ‘you didn’t know that’.

He deferred sentence for criminal justice social work reports and added him to the Sex Offender’s Register.

When Tidswell eventually returned to court after five months amid delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he received a community payback order with supervision for two years and three months and will remain on the Sex Offender’s Register for the same period.

Tidswell was also ordered to join the Moving Forward and Making Changes programme which aims to address offenders’ sexual thoughts towards children.