A paedophile who blamed his 14-year-old victim has been released by a sheriff who predicted he would commit more crimes.

Sheriff Robert McCreadie freed James Murray despite telling his lawyer: "I don't trust him for a moment."

Murray - who has been convicted of 28 crimes since February 2010 - was allowed to walk free from Perth Sheriff Court despite admitting having a sexual tryst with a 14-year-old girl.

He claimed that the girl had been "all over him" and that she had been trying to seduce him in a bid to test his faithfulness towards her friend.

Solicitor Anne Johnston, defending, said: "His girlfriend wanted to test his fidelity and asked the complainer if she would try it on with him.

"They spent the evening drinking alcohol. He drank a 70cl bottle of vodka that evening, although he said that was not a lot for him. In his own words he wasn't thinking clearly.

"He does blame the complainer to a certain extent. They went to a shop to purchase cigarettes and en route the complainer was making advances towards him.

"He was under no illusion she was coming onto him and she pulled him up the driveway and the encounter occurred.

"This was alcohol induced. There were no aspects of sexual deviation here. An offence of this nature is not likely to occur again."

The court heard that Murray, 17, was the subject of five bail orders at the time of the under-age tryst - two of them imposed just over a week prior to the incident.

Murray, who has spent the last four months remanded in custody, has 14 convictions for 28 offences since turning 16 and being old enough to appear in an adult court.

Sheriff McCreadie said: "The complainer was 14. Consent is not an aspect. It is about a young man who is out of control. The essential problem is a lack of self-discipline.

"He is in a hole and digging deeper. He has already served the equivalent of an eight month sentence. He has spent a significant time in prison.

"One strong argument is to test him by giving him his freedom with conditions of bail. I don't trust him for a moment. I watched him for a moment and I can see defiance. People give themselves away.

"I would only allow bail if he was curfewed. The important reason to test him is that he is the kind of person who will try to bend the rules and will almost certainly break the curfew.

"I expect him to try and do that. That is the kind of person he is, otherwise he would not have five bail aggravations on this offence."

The sheriff ordered Murray to be of good behaviour until October 26 and placed him on a curfew ordering him to remain indoors between 7pm and 7am each night.

Murray turned 16 on December 2009 and had secured his first conviction by 22 February the following year. His criminal record involves theft, assault, shoplifting, careless driving, breaching the peace, attempting to pervert the course of justice and bail breaches.