Vile child sex chat found on tutor's phone

Philip Bruce-Dewar (35), from Larbert, was placed on the sex offenders’ register on Monday for boasting he’d had sex with a 15-year-old girl and talked about having sex with a 12-year-old.

The founder of the Tuition Scotland firm had been chatting via instant messaging app Kik Messenger, Bruce-Dewar, who has an adopted child with his male partner, was quizzed by another pervert about a five-year-old boy to whom Bruce-Dewar had access.

Falkirk Sheriff Court was told that Bruce-Dewar’s on-line contact, who used the name “MrAwesome”, asked: “Are you going to try anything with him?”

Dewar responded: “Hmmm, time will tell.”

At Falkirk Sheriff Court on Monday, Sheriff Derek Livingston found Bruce-Dewar guilty of contravening the 2003 Communications Act by exchanging obscene, grossly offensive, and indecent messages.

Sheriff Livingston said: “’Time will tell’ is not in any way an acceptable answer when someone is asked if they’d have sex with a five-year-old child. He didn’t say ‘that’s horrendous, I’m totally insulted that you should ever think I’d do something like that’, and shut the conversation down – he continued it.

“I think these comments are menacing to children.”

The court heard police found Bruce-Dewar’s phone at his home on July 11 last year while acting on information received and the chat logs were recovered using forensic software.

Prosecutor Michael Maguire said Bruce-Dewar’s chats were “indeed grossly offensive” and “supportive of paedophilia”.

He said: “He discussed the sexual abuse of children as some form of acceptable behaviour.”

Sheriff Livingston interjected: “It was more speaking of it in approving terms.”

During a trial that stretched over two separate afternoons, Bruce-Dewar denied the offence.

His solicitor, Mark Harrower, said Bruce-Dewar had been “exchanging banter of a disturbing kind” while trying to pick up another adult male online for sex.

He said: “The consequences for him have already been dire.”

Sentence was deferred until February 15 for background reports, when it will also be determined how long Bruce-Dewar will remain on the sex offenders’ register.

Sheriff Livingston warned him: “You should be aware that all options are open to the court.”

The Crown said it would also be applying for a Sexual Offences Prevention Order on Bruce-Dewar.

Bruce-Dewar founded Tuition Scotland in 2011, tutoring school children throughout the Central Scotland area.