A MAN who sent explicit images of himself to an adult pretending to be a 14-year-old girl has been spared a jail sentence.

Kenneth Thomson’s crimes were serious enough that he could have been locked up – but a sheriff said she legally had to consider an alternative.

The 65-year-old previously pleaded guilty to attempting to communicate indecently with a child by sending communications that were of a sexual, indecent and inappropriate nature.

The offence was committed at a property in Morrison Street, Duntocher on various occasions between October 27 and November 12, 2019.

Twice on November 4 and 5, 2019, he also sent an explicit photo and video to the same recipient, thereby attempting to cause a child to view a sexual image.

The woman pretending to be a 14-year-old was in fact aged 52.

At Dumbarton Sheriff Court on July 30, Thomson’s solicitor Gail Campbell said a social work report on him did “not make for easy reading”.

She said Thomson had lost everything as a result of his actions.

Ms Campbell said: “He had a very stable long-term relationship, solid employment record, family, friends, a home, and effectively, through his own actions, he has now lost everything.

“I say that in no way to take away from the seriousness of the offences.

“He cannot quite explain how he got himself into this situation.”

Ms Campbell said her client had already had to move house, and was fearful he would have to do so again.

She said: “He has lost his friends. He is totally isolated. He had hobbies and those are finished. He has created a situation where he has self-imposed what could be a pre-custodial sentence.

“Effectively his adult life was incident-free until he chose this course of action.”

Sheriff Frances McCartney said there was “absolutely no doubt” the case met a “custody threshold”. But she said Thomson’s age, and the fact this was his first offence, meant that by law she had to consider a non-custodial sentence.

She imposed a community payback order as a direct alternative to prison, with supervision by social workers for three years.

Thomson, of Talisman Avenue in Dumbarton, must also carry out 270 hours of unpaid work in the community, reduced from the maximum of 300 because he pleaded guilty.

He will be under curfew from 7pm to 7am for 14 weeks, and will have a number of measures put in place to monitor any computer devices he has.

Thomson was also put on the sex offenders register for three years.