Sex offender posed as girl online to lure children into sending explicit images

A convicted sex offender who posed as a teenage girl online to lure children into sending him footage of them taking part in sex acts and urinating in public places could face a life sentence.

Ross Jameson, 43, admitted a catalogue of depraved offending against young girls, some of whom he offered to provide with drink and vapes in exchange for images of themselves.

Jameson, formerly of Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to eight offences of sending sexual communications to underage girls and causing victims to participate in sexual activity when he earlier appeared at the city’s sheriff court.

Sheriff Matt Jackson KC sent his case to the High Court, which has greater powers of sentencing.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday made a risk assessment order in Jameson’s case, which can lead to the imposition of an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) on the offender.

A detailed risk assessment report will now be prepared on Jameson by an accredited expert before he is sentenced.

If the judge decides to impose an OLR on him, a minimum term is set which he must serve in prison before he becomes eligible to apply for release, but parole authorities will decide if and when he can be let out of jail.

Lady Hood said that Jameson’s latest offending was directed against eight different young children, and the nature of it was “both serious and concerning”.

The judge pointed out that a background report prepared on him assessed him as posing a high risk and an above-average risk.

Jameson made contact with eight girls aged between nine and 13 between August 2024 and April 2025 as he pretended to be a 15-year-old girl called Shannon.

Some of the girls he targeted were encouraged to record themselves taking part in solo sex acts and send him the images and videos.

Jameson was caught after schoolchildren were found sharing videos, and police traced a Snapchat account to him and seized a mobile phone containing chat logs.

Lady Hood placed the former IT consultant on the sex offenders’ register and told him that the period he will remain on it will be specified when he is sentenced.

She adjourned sentence on Jameson, who is in prison, to the High Court in Paisley in July.