Locations
West Linton, Peeblesshire, EH46
Description
A celebrity baker who crafted cakes for Hollywood stars and royalty faces jail after being caught in a Scottish police pedophile sting.
David Duncan, 41, responded to an online ad for female escorts but was informed the girls were 14 and 15 years old. Unbeknownst to him, he was communicating with an undercover officer in Operation Overview, a 2022 initiative that has arrested dozens of high-harm threats to children.
The married father of two, who employs nine at his cake business, designed a 10-tiered wedding cake featured at the UK premiere of "You're Cordially Invited" alongside Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell. He also created replica cakes of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, and was photographed with the late Queen and then-Prince Charles.
Duncan traveled to Motherwell, Lanarkshire, where police confronted him. He claimed no intent for sexual activity and planned to expose the operation.
At Hamilton Sheriff Court, he denied wrongdoing but was convicted by jury of attempting to obtain sexual services from a child under 18. Duncan admitted to regular escort use due to lack of intimacy with his wife, telling jurors: "I know the moral situation and how this all looks and the fact that I'm a married man with two kids and I know its awful.
"We've been together for a long time and we are best of friends but when it comes to that side of things then it's not there but if the person I had met had been above legal age then it wouldn't have mattered."
He added: "My worry was that these girls had potentially been trafficked and I had to get the address.
"I came across this as if it was real, I thought it was a real situation."
A phone search revealed a note: "I'm going to meet a blonde 15-year-old. I will not take part in any sexual services but will give them the money as if I'm playing along. I will say ill and then leave and then report the address to the police."
Depute fiscal Rebecca Clark told jurors:
"He wants you to believe that he is some modern day hero who is far better than the police and that only he could save those children.
"David Duncan clearly thinks he is a very clever man and that by taking 60 seconds to write a note on his phone is all that it would take to convince the police, me and all of you that he was not trying to buy a child but I was not buying his story, the question is are you?"
Defense counsel Kieran Clegg said: "It is a serious offence and custody will be at the forefront of the court's mind."
Sheriff Louise Gallacher deferred sentencing on first-time offender Duncan until November for reports, continued bail, and placed him on the sex offenders' register.