A FORMER youth football coach who was jailed last year for having indecent images of children is back behind bars after being caught in a vigilante group sting.

Craig Raeburn was caught with hundreds of images and videos of children being abused when police raided his home in 2016.

Raeburn, who coached youngsters at Cockenzie Star, was jailed for 14 months and placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years after pleading guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last April.

READ MORE: Former youth football coach jailed

But just months after his release from prison, the former NHS manager contacted what he believed was a 12-year-old boy called Cameron Scott on the messaging app Skype.

Raeburn from Port Seton, then sent images of his genitals to the schoolboy and also made sexual comments to him in messages through Skype and on the What's App site.

But the 'boy' turned out to be a decoy set up by the internet vigilante group Wolf Pack Hunters UK, who subsequently handed over all the messages to the police.

Raeburn pleaded guilty to sending pictures and messages of an explicit nature to a boy called Cameron Scott between March 17 and 28 this year when he appeared from custody at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today (Monday).

Fiscal depute Fraser Mathieson told the court that a member of the Wolf Pack Hunters UK had set up a bogus child account on Skype in March and Raeburn made contact just four days later.

Mr Mathieson said: “The group makes use of decoys who are adults who create online profiles on chat sites on social media and adopt the persona of a child.

“A member set up the profile of a 12-year-old boy on Skype on March 13 and on March 17 he received a message from the accused.”

The fiscal said that over the following days Raeburn sent the 12-year-old boy numerous messages, including a picture of a penis and a second image of an erect penis.

He also swapped phone numbers with the boy and began making comments on What’s App about the “mutual caressing of bodies” and engaging in “oral sex” and “full sex”.

Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC deferred sentence to later this month for the preparation of reports and for a risk assessment to be carried out.

He also placed 54-year-old Raeburn on the sex offenders' register and remanded him in custody.

Sheriff O’Grady said: “Looking at the disturbing nature of these offences, taken along with the previous convictions, it seems I might require a social work report and a risk assessment before I proceed.”

A plea of not guilty to making arrangements to meet the boy at Edinburgh Waverley Station with the intention of engaging in sexual activity with or in the presence of the child was accepted.

A not guilty plea to Raeburn breaching his Sex Offenders Supervision Order (SOPO) by being in possession of an iPad between March 17 and 28 was also accepted by the Crown.

Raeburn was jailed for 14 months last April after he was a caught with more than 1,400 child abuse images and 20 videos - some at the most extreme end of the spectrum - despite his attempts to delete most of the files.

But officers used specialist computer software to recover most of the evidence and associated file names.

Raeburn was placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and handed a five-year SOPO following his release from prison.

Raeburn was subsequently sacked from his position as a practitioner services manager with the NHS following last year’s conviction.

He no longer has any involvement with Cockenzie Star.