A MAN who allegedly tried to lure who he believed to be a teenage girl to his home for sex was confronted by a group of 'paedophile hunters' near to an Inverclyde railway station, a trial has heard.

Prosecutors say Gordon Mair, 38, arranged to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old named 'Abbie Hill' at Wemyss Bay Station before taking her on a ferry journey to his home in Rothesay.

Greenock Sheriff Court heard that 'Abbie' was in fact 53-year-old Karen Louise Bagley, who volunteers for an organisation called Maximum Exposure.

Mair, represented by lawyer Edel McGinty, appeared in front of a jury of 15 men and women and Sheriff Joseph Hughes.

The trial heard that Ms Bagley created the character of Abbie on social networking and dating site Skout using a permitted photo of another 14-year-old, and awaited contact from adults.

Mair is alleged to have contacted the profile and their conversation then moved to the WhatsApp messaging platform.

Evidence presented by procurator fiscal depute Mark Nicol included several WhatsApp messages between the decoy and Mair between May and July 2019.

The Crown claim Mair began by telling her that he 'loved her eyes' and said within hours had moved to asking her to send photographs of herself.

The court heard that Ms Bagley, posing as Abbie, made it clear that she was 14 and looking for friends just to chat to.

The trial heard how Abbie was presented as a vulnerable child with a difficult home life, which Ms Bagley told the jury was part of a strategy used by members of Maximum Exposure.

The trial was told that in the days and weeks that followed, Mair sent messages of an increasingly graphic nature.

Mr Nicol said that in one of the messages, in advance of their meeting, Ms Bagley/Abbie asked if Mair was 'OK with her being 14 and nearly 15' to which he replied 'Ye, I'm good with it'.

Mair, a former soldier, is accused of intentionally and for purposes of obtaining sexual gratification or of humiliating, distressing or alarming a person, who he believed to be a child, 'sending sexual written communication to her and repeatedly sending her messages of a sexual and lewd nature'.

He is also accused of communicating indecently with a child.

The trial against him had continued for two days in Greenock before the court was told the accused had fallen into 'ill health'.

After medical experts were consulted, Sheriff Hughes made the decision to desert the trial to allow time to ascertain Mair's fitness to stand trial.

The case is expected to call again in July 2022.