Ex-teacher in court over sexual chats with '12-year-old girl'

A retired PE teacher caught speaking inappropriately to a girl he thought was 12 has been added to the sex offenders’ register.

Duncan Brock, 64, was instead chatting online to an undercover police officer posing as a ‘decoy’ in May 2019.

Brock’s messages included asking to have sex with the decoy with a friend.

He also requested photographs of the girl in her underwear and complimented her looks.

Brock, who has erectile disfunction, claimed he was unable to get “sexual gratification” from the chats due to the issue.

Instead, he stated that he pretended to be sexually aroused by the conversations to give pleasure to others and was acting out a “fantasy”.

Brock was convicted at Glasgow Sheriff Court to obtaining sexual gratification by sending direct sexual written and verbal communication with a police officer pretending to be a child.

He was also found guilty of intentionally causing the decoy to participate in sexual activity.

On Monday, sheriff Iain Fleming put Brock, of Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, under supervision for two years and added him to the sex offenders’ register.

The court heard Brock was a PE teacher for 35 years before retiring in 2013.

Prosecutor Jenny Reid told jurors in her prosecution speech: “Having retired from his long-standing job and finding himself in a state of isolation and loneliness, coupled with his various health difficulties, he found himself turning to chatrooms online.

“This was not for sexual chat to begin with, but as time went on, he found that he was getting involved in sexual chats, and this was about the time he came across the decoy.”

He first communicated with the decoy in January 2019 on the KissChat website, where she immediately stated that she was 12-years-old.

Ms Reid said: “Despite being a retired PE teacher who was aware of child protection issues, this set off no alarm bells for Mr Brock.”

Brock asked if the decoy was “naughty” and if she had sex before.

In a phone call, Brock mentioned to the decoy that he would “bring a friend” with him to both have sex with her.

Ms Reid added: “He tells her that he is touching himself on a number of occasions and he also asks her to send photographs of herself in her underwear to him.”

Brock later claimed that he was aware he was speaking to an adult but he didn’t ask in the chats as he didn’t want to “shatter the illusion”.

He stated that he believed he was playing out a “roleplay fantasy” for the decoy.

Ms Reid said: “It is agreed Mr Brock suffered from erectile disfunction for some years – and it is for this reason, he tells us, that he cannot derive any sexual pleasure. He is incapable.

“He pretends to be sexually excited and aroused by these conversations not only to facilitate the pleasure for the other users, but for a sense of satisfaction and pleasure from being able to participate.

“You will also no doubt recall Brock’s manner on the phone to the decoy.

“There is more than one occasion where he sounds like a man that is sexually aroused – heavy breathing, gasping, moaning, groaning.

“This is often coupled with outright declarations of ‘it just feels so good’ and ‘ah it’s just such a turn on’.

“Brock is either giving an Oscar-worthy performance in each of these telephone calls or what you heard is the sound of a man who is enjoying communicating with this girl, and who is sexually gratified by what he is saying and doing.”