A HAWICK man has been found guilty following a trial at Jedburgh Sheriff Court of communicating indecently with what he thought was a 12-year-old girl but turned out to be an adult decoy.

Fifty-four-year-old Michael Elsender messaged an adult – who was pretending to be a child – over a three-week period. 

Elsender communicated inappropriately with the woman pretending to be a 12-year-old child and made sexual requests. 

He committed the offence at his home in Glebe Mill Street, between May 5 and Sunday, May 26. 

Elsender was found guilty of a charge of causing a person pretending to be a child to receive a sexual communication.

Sentence was deferred until December 16 at Jedburgh Sheriff Court for the production of background reports. 

He was also made subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act – the length of the order to be determined at the sentencing diet.