An East Kilbride man who offered a teenage girl cash in exchange for sexual favours has been jailed for 20 months.
Andrew Cunningham, 36, was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years at Hamilton Sheriff Court today (Monday).
Sheriff Louise Gallacher described his behaviour as “highly disturbing” and referred to a statement by the girl’s mother that it has had a “devastating” impact on her child.
Jurors were told that Cunningham bombarded the schoolgirl with texts and suggested booking a hotel room for them.
Rebecca Clark, prosecuting, said his lewd messages showed he was “asking her to prostitute herself for £100 a week”.
Cunningham, 36, of Clyde Tower, denied communicating indecently with a child and offering cash for sexual services, but he was found guilty on both counts.
The offences happened in May 2023.`
Cunningham denied sending the lewd messages. He claimed he’d left behind his phone in a pub and didn’t get it back for several days.
He insisted any one of three friends he was with in the pub could have been responsible for the messages.
The court heard he met the girl and two of her friends outside the pub.
Over the next few days she received 196 texts and 13 phone calls.
Cunningham offered to provide the girl with alcohol and said he was keen to sleep with her.
Messages included ‘You help me and I’ll help you’ and ‘No one has to know. I’ll give you a lot of money if you come up to my gaff once a week’.
The girl didn’t reply to his suggestions of sexual activity and when he mentioned booking a hotel she responded ‘We won’t be able to go because our maws are wanting us home’.
Giving evidence, Cunningham rejected the prosecutor’s claim that he had been “grooming the girl for sex”.
He insisted he hadn’t sent any of the messages, but Ms Clark said he’d been recognised on a Facetime call.
Defence lawyer Ian Scott said Cunningham has had issues with drugs and alcohol. His previous convictions involve violence and disorder but the offending he has now been found guilty of is “out of character”.
Mr Scott referred to one girl’s evidence that they had been “trying to take advantage of him for the purpose of getting alcohol”.
He suggested a community payback order would give his client “supervision and help”.
But Sheriff Louise Gallacher said she was “very concerned” by a criminal justice social work report suggestion that Cunningham was “victim blaming”.
She told him: “I would have considered a non-custodial sentence had you accepted your behaviour and consented to engage with the rehabilitation work necessary to ensure you don’t re-offend.
“You say you won’t engage and without intervention that risk remains. Given your attitude, there is no option other than custody available to me.”
*Don’t miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.