A PERVERT who showed porn to a girl on a fishing boat then failed to update police on his address for his sex offences has been fined after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
John Donald Cree, 68, was due to a appear in court to face a charge of failing to inform police of a new address after being placed on the Sex Offenders Register for three years back in 2019.
Creepy Cree, now of Glasgow Street, Ardrossan and previously Dalrymple Place, Irvine, allegedly failed to notify police between December 17 and December 20 in 2020 – with the case previously continued without plea.
However a warrant to apprehend Cree was issued by the court after the accused – whose registration has since lapsed since the offences – failed to appear on Thursday January 20.
When he was brought out from custody to answer the warrant in Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week [Thursday, February 1] Cree was fined £160 for his guilty plea and then sent on his way.
BEAST: A warrant was issued for John Cree after failing to appear at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court
Police Scotland was contacted on several occasions for information after the warrant was issued by the court and again before publication.
Cree had previously admitted making a then 10-year-old girl look at pornographic images while they were both onboard a fishing boat near Millport Harbour between June 28, 2016 and August 20, 2016.
The former Cumbrae resident also pleaded guilty to making a comment of a sexual nature to the same child.
At a footpath near to the Kelburn Bar in Millport, Cree also made a comment of a sexual nature to another girl, aged nine, on September 22 of last year.
When he was sentenced for his sordid offences back on Thursday, February 15, 2018, Cree’s solicitor admitted his client’s explanation for the offences wasn’t ‘a very good one’.
Defence Solicitor Paul Gallagher said: “Mr Cree does accept responsibility for these offences, and the consequences. In my discussions with him he does know they are of some gravity and involving children.
Kilmarnock Sheriff Court
“How he found himself in the situation, and his explanation, is not a very good one.
“Mr Cree is aware these offences could result in a custodial sentence.”
Sheriff Michael Hanlon highlighted the seriousness of the ‘concerning’ offences but said Cree would avoid a period of imprisonment.
He said: “There is a focus on supervision in the report and it is for that reason that I’m going to step back from a custodial sentence.”
Cree was then given a Community Payback Order including 125 hours of unpaid work to be completed within a period of six months.
He was also made to take part in the Moving Forward Making Changes programme, given supervision for three years as well as signing on as a sex offender – with his registration having lapsed.
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