A NORTH Berwick sex offender has been jailed after he admitted forming friendships with women and children without permission to do so.
Gordon Sanderson was placed on a Sexual Offenders Prevention Order (SOPO) in 2015 after he had been convicted of sex offences against women and children.
As part of the order, Sanderson was banned from forming relationships with anyone without prior agreement from his supervising officer.
But the 60-year-old sex offender breached the order by befriending women and children at Musselburgh Baptist Church and at the National Museum of Flight, East Fortune.
Sanderson appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court from custody last Thursday where he pleaded guilty to three charges of breaching the order.
Sheriff Frank Crowe said he had no option but to jail Sanderson and sentenced him to 16 months in custody on each charge, to run concurrently with each other.
Sanderson admitted failing to inform his offender management unit officer that he had formed a relationship with an unnamed woman at Musselburgh Baptist Church between November 5, 2017, and October 1 last year.
He also pleaded guilty to communicating, interacting and playing with unnamed children at the National Museum of Flight, East Fortune, on August 3 last year.
Sanderson also admitted a third charge of breaching the SOPO by communicating, interacting and playing with unnamed children at a restaurant in Lasswade, Midlothian, on September 15 last year.
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