Paedophile male nurse posed as online lesbian to prey on 50 girls

Barry McCluskey posed as a gay teenage girl to get the children - one just aged ten - to perform lurid acts via a webcam.

He blackmailed some victims, threatening to expose what they had done unless they agreed to his demands.

The 39-year-old pled guilty to a total of 49 sex charges at the High Court in Glasgow. McCluskey showed no emotion as he was remanded in custody. He faces a lengthy jail-term when sentenced later this year.

The court was told a total of 49 girls - aged ten to 15 - were targeted over a three-year period between 2007 and 2010.

He preyed on them from the home he shared with his wife and two children in the city's King's Park.

McCluskey - who worked at an unnamed Glasgow hospital - prowled the Bebo social network site before contacting the children via the MSN instant messaging service.

The burly former medic posed as a girl called "Clare" or "Missy" and used a profile picture of a young woman.

Alison Di Rollo, prosecuting, said he never made "face-to-face or physical contact" with any of the girls.

She added that he had initially complimented the girls, but soon displayed a "strong fetish" for children wearing short outfits.

McCluskey came to the attention of police in February last year, after a complaint from the mother of a 13-year-old girl.

It was found that she had been forced to carry out sex acts via a webcam after being contacted by McCluskey.

Police discovered he used 26 e-mail addresses using names such as "addiktedtooluv".

McCluskey was not at home when officers went to search his house last July.

He was instead found at the Erskine Bridge, apparently contemplating suicide. He claimed that he had "done something bad" before he was eventually detained.

An inquiry - named Operation Trinity - then uncovered the full scale of McCluskey's behaviour. It was discovered that he had targeted dozens of other girls - some of whom had rejected his advances.

The court heard that McCluskey - in "highly explicit terms" - got youngsters to strip and perform for him as he recorded the footage. He alleged that he was either gay or bisexual.

Miss Di Rollo said: "Those who were, or became reluctant, he would ask to do more, telling them if they did not, he may have to forward the video they had already done to friends."

One of his victims begged him to stop, saying she "hated" what was being asked of her, the court heard. The girl told McCluskey: "Don't blackmail me. I did it before because I thought I could trust you. Please don't single me out and destroy my life over something stupid like a cam show."

Miss Di Rollo said the girls involved felt "severe humiliation and embarrassment" at what happened.McCluskey - now separated from his wife - also recorded schoolgirls as they shopped at an Asda store in the city's Toryglen and women getting changed at a leisure centre in the Gorbals.

l A Sikh priest has been convicted of a sex attack on a 12-year-old girl in his room at a temple.

Surinder Singh, 53, tried to kiss the girl and touch her face and hands at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in Glasgow's west end on 15 January this year. He had also tried to put cashew nuts into the girl's mouth.

Singh - who was visiting Scotland at the time - was found guilty of assaulting the child at the Otago Street temple after a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Sentence was deferred.