Jack Penman

Jack Penman, a 22-year-old man from Aberdeen, was sentenced at Aberdeen Sheriff Court after admitting to a series of indecent communications with children. Between December 2023 and August 2024, Penman engaged in disturbing online chats with 19 girls he believed to be aged between 10 and 15, using the Snapchat platform to send sexually explicit messages and images.

The court heard a detailed 10-page narration of Penman's conversations, uncovered by police following a raid on his Wood Street flat in Aberdeen and his parents' house in Berwickshire. Fiscal Andrew McMann outlined how Penman openly stated his age as 20 and propositioned the girls for sexting, offering to send photos of his penis. In one instance, he messaged a 10-year-old girl who was unaware of the term 'sexting', offering to teach her. He repeatedly expressed a desire to 'corrupt' younger sisters, asking one girl for her nine-year-old sister's contact details and responding to concerns about her age with, 'I mean, if she says yes.'

Penman's activities escalated when, in June 2024, he began chatting with a 13-year-old profile named Maisie, which was operated by an undercover police officer as a decoy. During these exchanges, Penman requested photos of the decoy in school uniform, sent images of his penis, and made sexually explicit demands too disturbing to report in full. He admitted his 'kink' involved girls converting friends or sisters into sexual activity, stating, 'I wanna see if this is a limit for you. I'm into girls who will try and convert their friends or sisters into good sluts – if you're into that.'

Similar patterns emerged in chats with real girls: he asked a 15-year-old to 'show daddy some more skin' while she was in class, and enquired about involving a five-year-old acquaintance, asking, 'Out of your sisters, friends and this five-year-old, who do you think you could get to talk to be easier.' Penman's defence agent, Edward Hulme, referenced adverse childhood experiences noted in a social work report but clarified they were not offered as mitigation. Sheriff Ian Wallace rejected a community-based disposal, describing the offences as 'serious sexual offending towards young girls' and highlighting the shocking attempts to involve even younger children.

The case was reported by The Press and Journal, based on proceedings at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.