Inverness American football coach jailed for paying two teenage boys to pose naked for photos and videos while with Highland Wildcats
An Inverness American football coach who “manipulated and tricked” two teenage boys into posing for naked photos and videos has been jailed.
Robert Paulin of Canal Road, Inverness, groomed the young Highland Wildcats players – then aged 15 and 17 – over a period of years, before paying them to pose under the pretence of making a sex education film.
Convicted at Inverness Sheriff Court after a four-day trial last month, Paulin was branded “very dangerous”.
Appearing for sentencing earlier today (Thursday), Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald imposed a two-year jail sentence saying Paulin had demonstrated “a staggering level of deception”.
She also added a 10-year non-harassment order and placed Paulin on the Sex Offenders register for the same period.
Defence counsel had asked for a non-custodial sentence because Paulin was a first offender, saying there was no physical contact with the victims and that social workers had assessed him as a low risk of offending.
But Sheriff Macdonald said: "You were in a position of trust and you abused that trust.
“Your behaviour significantly affected Highland Wildcats and you took the opportunity to groom these young men.
“You manipulated them and tricked them both.
“There was a significant degree of planning and a staggering level of deception, so there is no alternative to a period of imprisonment.”
Paulin, who has led coaching sessions at schools across the Highlands, was found guilty in March of two charges of arranging or facilitating the involvement in pornography of a person aged under 18, between 2012 and 2014.
One posed naked for the indecent photographs, some of which Paulin himself took, with video also taken of the teenager performing a solo sex act.
Paulin also had the other pose naked while he took indecent images, including photographs of the boy’s private parts, while attempting to take video of him performing a solo sex act.
The charges detail how the teenagers participated in exchange for payment “allegedly by a third party”.
Paulin had denied any wrongdoing during the trial and was acquitted of three further sex charges.
Highland Wildcats, founded in 1999 and a charity since 2006, have won 11 Scottish Championships, one UK Flag Football Championship and three Youth UK Championship.
After Paulin’s conviction, the club issued an assurance that it it “remains a safe place” and stressed it had carried out a thorough review of safeguarding protocols.
