April 2013

Disgraced Faslane serviceman made sexual bribes to girl, 15

A sailor bribed a 15-year-old girl into showing him naked images of herself over the internet in exchange for mobile phone top-ups.

Disgraced serviceman Andrew Marshall watched the youngster on a webcam while logged on from his quarters in Faslane, having boasted about being at the high-security Scots naval base.

Experts found pictures of Marshall in his uniform, along with images of him exposing himself and a picture of his young victim.

Several indecent images of girls aged between five and 15 were also recovered from the machine.

He even posed in naval uniform before offering mobile phone top-ups to the schoolgirl, who told him she was under-age, if she took her clothes off.

But Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard 19-year-old Marshall was rumbled after the girl’s parents found evidence of the contact on her computer and called in police.

Fiscal depute, Lynn Jamieson, said: “The complainer’s parents were disgusted with the sexual references on the chat logs and called the local police.”

The court heard that the victim, who lives down south, was in her bedroom downloading music from a website at around 7.30pm on June 13, 2011, when she received a request through the site’s chat facility.

The youngster accepted and Marshall told her he was at “the navy base in Scotland”.

His victim chatted, leaving the site periodically to check other social media outlets but not before the accused had asked if she had a webcam.

The girl told Marshall she did not think so before leaving her computer. She returned at around 10.30pm and logged back on to chat again.

Marshall could be seen on the girl’s screen via his webcam but he could not see her. During the conversation, the accused began to steer the conversation to a more sexual angle.

Ms Jamieson told the court: “The accused asked what she thought of his actions, she said it was cool just to keep him happy at the time.” But she later said she thought his behaviour was “creepy”.

The victim then discovered that her laptop had a webcam facility and the conversation took a more sinister turn. Marshall offered to buy her mobile phone credit to persuade her to undress.

The youngster took her top off before becoming embarrassed and getting dressed.

Messages were exchanged the following day over Marshall’s promise to buy the girl phone credit but he never made good on his pledge and the pair never spoke again.

Police traced Marshall, now of Pontefract, Yorkshire, and he was detained by naval police in Helensburgh days later. Officers searched his quarters at Faslane, seizing a Blackberry phone and a Samsung notebook.

Sheriff Bill Dunlop placed Marshall on the sex offenders’ register and deferred sentence until next month for background reports.