A former chaplain to the late Queen admitted sending indecent messages to a person he believed was a 14-year-old boy, a court was told.
Andrew Deuchar, 70, pleaded guilty to sending images of himself and a video of a sexual nature on the Kik messaging site to a boy called Jason who was living in Ireland.
But the messages were in fact being sent to an adult decoy belonging to an anti-paedophile vigilante group.
Members of the group turned up at Deuchar’s home in Chirnside, Berwickshire, on May 30, where they live-streamed the confrontation with Deuchar, who told them: ‘I made a mistake, I realise that.’
Alasdair Fay, prosecuting, told a previous hearing at Jedburgh Sheriff Court: ‘The matter was reported to the police. During his interview the accused said: ”I am sorry. It was a mistake.
“It only happened once. The boy had taken the lead and had been the instigator of some things.”’
Mr Fay said that during the message exchange the man posing as the child said he was just 14 years old.
Sentence had previously been deferred for background reports.
Andrew Deuchar pleaded guilty to sending images of himself and a video of a sexual nature on the Kik messaging site
Defence lawyer Keith Tuck said the Criminal Justice Social Work Report was a ‘positive one’.
He continued: ‘It seems quite clear that the events have given him a great deal of time for reflection.
‘He deeply regrets his involvement in such matters and is now on a path to considering the underlying reasons for it.
‘It is a serious matter and he understands that.’
Sheriff Peter Paterson said he was prepared to follow the recommendations laid out in the background reports.
Deuchar was given a two-year Community Pay Back Order with supervision and made subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act for a similar period.
He was appointed a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth the second in 2004 when he was a Church of England parish priest in Nottinghamshire.
But he resigned the post in 2008 when he was accused of inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment of a female parishioner.
Deuchar then moved to Berwickshire and became director of Berwick Literary Festival.
But after his arrest for indecent online communications became known in the summer, disgraced Deuchar was dismissed from the unpaid role by the book festival’s chairman of trustees.
