A MAN who left two young children screaming for help after locking them in a searing hot car has been admonished.

Andrew Yorkston left the youngsters in the back seat of his car with the windows fully rolled up for about 30 minutes on a hot summer’s day.

The girl and the boy were trapped in the locked vehicle and were only rescued after passers-by heard the traumatised girl screaming “help, save us”.

The concerned passer-by contacted the police and managed to calm the distraught children down by waiting by the vehicle while it was parked in a lay-by near to Prestonpans last year.

Yorkston, who was in charge of the children’s welfare, eventually appeared about 30 minutes later claiming he had “only been five minutes” and had been relieving himself.

The 28-year-old then jumped into his car and drove away from the lay-by, leaving the police to launch a hunt for him and the two children.

Yorkston had previously admitted abandoning the children in the car last August when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier this year and he was due back in the dock last Wednesday.

Solicitor Cameron Tait, defending, said that his client had not attended court but asked Sheriff Adrian Cottam to deal with the case in his absence.

Mr Tait added that the care of the children was now under supervision of the local social work department.

Sheriff Cottam agreed and decided to admonish Yorkston on the charge of abandoning the children.

Previously, the court heard that the two children were spotted within the locked vehicle parked at a lay-by on the B1361 at about 5.30pm on August 16 last year.

Fiscal depute Mark Keane said: “Witnesses were out for a walk and they observed a stationary car in the lay-by and saw two children within the car who very distressed.

“The girl was shouting ‘help, save us’.”

When asked where the person looking after her was, the girl pointed to an opening in the trees.

The fiscal added that “the car was locked and the windows were fully up” and it was “a hot day”.

“The witnesses became concerned about the children’s welfare and decided to phone the police and stay with the car for about 25 minutes,” the fiscal added.

Solicitor Lesley Cunningham, defending, told the court that Yorkston had stopped for a toilet break as he took the children to a McDonald’s restaurant.

Ms Cunningham said that her client had “an underlying drug problem” at the time of the incident which was “now resolved”.

She added: “Mr Yorkston was taking the children to a McDonald’s and stopped by the side of the road for the toilet. He admits now this was foolish in the extreme. Fortunately there was no harm done to the children.”

Yorkston admitted to being responsible for two children and wilfully abandoning them by leaving them alone within a locked vehicle while windows were fully closed in hot weather conditions at a lay-by on the B1361 near to Prestonpans on August 16 last year.