A DUNBAR man who touched a teenage girl on the leg as she chatted to a friend on a bus has been ordered to complete unpaid work as a punishment.

Alistair Miller repeatedly touched the 17-year-old girl by grabbing her leg and moving his hand up her thigh as she travelled home on the 107 single decker.

Miller, who pleaded guilty to an amended charge of repeatedly touching the girl at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month, claimed he could not remember the incident and admitted being drunk.

The 69-year-old, of Boroughdales, was back at the city court last Monday, where he was sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Solicitor Angela Craig said that Miller had been “shamed” by what he had done and had stopped drinking alcohol since the incident on the bus from Haddington to Dunbar. The retired pipe layer also admitted the episode must have been a “frightening experience for the girl”, the solicitor added.

Miller had initially denied the girl’s claims and the teenager was forced to give evidence to a part-heard trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in July.

But during the second day of the trial, Miller changed his plea to guilty to an amended charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by repeatedly touching the girl on the body over her clothing whilst on a bus on December 14 last year. The father-of-four’s not guilty plea to sexually assaulting the teenager was accepted by the Crown and no more evidence was heard.