Sex attacker confessed to teen victim on Facebook

A SEX attacker who pounced on a 14-year-old school boy in a country park was caught after confessing to his victim on Facebook.

Stuart Sinclair urged the youngster not to tell police he was responsible for the terrifying assault.

But the schoolboy’s mother spotted their Facebook conversation and printed it out from her son’s computer.

She took the damning document to the police and Sinclair, 17, was arrested and charged.

Livingston Sheriff Court was told yesterday that the youngster was attacked after he became separated from his friends during a vodka drinking session in Polkemmet Country Park, West Lothian.

While he was walking alone in a field near the M8 motorway, Sinclair grabbed him from behind.

John Barclay, prosecuting, said the accused then started compressing the youngster’s neck, choking him.

The schoolboy broke free and ran away but he was chased by Sinclair, who again seized him by the neck and forced him down to the ground.

Mr Barclay said: “The complainer was on the ground lying face down and the accused was compressing his neck. He said Sinclair pulled down the 14-year-old’s trousers and under- wear and sexually assaulted him.

“He was terrified, in shock and upset. He went home and told his mother ‘I nearly died tonight’, but didn’t tell her what happened.”

Mr Barclay said the boy’s mother had been so worried her son had not arrived home by midnight that she reported him missing to the police. Sinclair, of Whitburn, West Lothian, appeared for sentence yesterday.

He earlier pled guilty to sexually assaulting the teenager on April 1 this year.

Darryl Lovie, defending, claimed the attack had been an isolated incident and raised concerns about Sinclair’s ability to cope with custody.

Sheriff Gregor Murray sentenced Sinclair to nine months detention and made him subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act for ten years.

Members of Sinclair’s family caused a disturbance in court as the sheriff pronounced sentence.

The accused’s brother shouted “This is not justice” and swore loudly as he was manhandled from the public benches by police and court officers.