Pensioner 'sexually obsessed with horses'

A PENSIONER whose sexual obsession with horses and young girls went virtually undetected for 50 years was put on probation for three years yesterday.

George Blair, 69, admitted three offences over a six-week period. He had previously pleaded guilty to handling a young stallion and then a fortnight later breached his bail conditions by being discovered with his trousers down in a field containing horses.

The former Territorial Army soldier later committed a breach of the peace by following and staring at two girls, both 13.

Selkirk Sheriff Court heard that Blair had been sentenced to two years' probation in 1996 for a bestiality offence, but Sheriff Kevin Drummond said the bizarre behaviour stretched back 50 years.

Court reports said Blair had "a long-standing interest in horses and children that was unlikely to change" and that there was a high risk of him reoffending.

The sheriff said the maximum term of imprisonment he could impose would offer little protection to the public.

Instead, he put forward a package of measures aimed at "providing the maximum protection and supervision of you for as long as I can manage".

Blair, of Bridge Street, Selkirk, was given a nine-week prison sentence, backdated to 14 November, when he was taken into custody, placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for seven years and given three years' probation, on condition that he did not go within 25 metres of a horse grazing or enter stables without the consent of the owner.

Sentencing on the charge of following the two young girls was deferred for 12 months.