A DIRTY old man was caught looking at indecent photographs of children online.

On Thursday at Alloa Sheriff Court, Kenneth Hoyes pleaded guilty to the offence, which took place between April 7 and May 31 last year at an address in the town's Rankine Wynd.

Although the charge sheet stated that the 70-year-old "did take or permit to be taken or make indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children", no narrative was heard in court that implied that the pensioner snapped or created any illegal pictures.

Instead, defence agent Claire McCarron explained that her client saw the images online and clicked on a link out of curiosity, but could offer no explanation as to why he continued to access them for almost a two-month period.

In Hoyes' social work report it stated that he had a lack of understanding as to how his actions would impact the victim.

Although originally arguing "they were only pictures", Ms McCarron claimed that her client now recognises why it is an offence and has a general attitude of "remorse and disgust".

Hoyes, of Loch Road in Saline, was said to have a stable family lifestyle and was supported in court by his wife. The accused was also said to pose a low risk of reoffending as he had got to the age of 70 without appearing in the dock before.

Sheriff David Mackie sentenced the accused to a Community Payback Order with supervision for 12 months.

Hoyes was also placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for a year and is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with children under 16 unless approved by a supervising officer.

The pensioner must also make all of his online devices available on request to be inspected for risk management whenever required, and he must engage with indecent offence-focused work as directed by a supervising social worker.