A PERVERTED pensioner who preyed on young girls for more than four DECADES has been ordered to pay one of his victims thousands of pounds after being spared jail at Greenock Sheriff Court on his 87th birthday.

Sex offender Ian Telfer was convicted of almost a dozen charges of indecent assaults against three complainers, two of whom were of primary school age, dating from the 1970s through to 2017.

The elderly deviant, who appeared frail and required a walking aid to enter the dock, was deemed unfit for unpaid work, while a prison term was dismissed as 'inappropriate' by a sheriff.

Instead, Telfer's punishment will be three years of criminal justice social work supervision, a £3,000 compensation order and sex offender notification requirements for three years.

Telfer had a not guilty plea accepted by prosecutors to an allegation of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour towards a young girl at an address in Greenock between 1976 and 1977.

It was claimed that he pulled the youngster onto his knee, uttered indecent remarks towards her, touched her on the body, placed his hand inside her upper clothing, touched her breasts and attempted to kiss her on the mouth.

READ MORE: Double assault accused 'attacked OAP aged 76 on Greenock street'

The OAP was also cleared of two other charges of intentionally exposing his genitals in a sexual manner to a teenage girl in the mid-late 2010s at his home.

Telfer indecently assaulted one female victim at a property in Auchinleck on New Year's Day in 1981 when he approached her as she slept and touched her leg and breast.

He attempted to kiss an 11-year-old girl on the lips in the early 2000s, and sexually assaulted the same victim more than a decade later when he embraced her, touched her on the body, placed his hand inside her trousers and touched her buttocks.

Eight offences were committed against the same female victim between 2009 and 2017.

On various occasions between October 2009 and December 2014, within a vehicle, the pervert touched the young girl on the legs, placed his hand on her leg and moved it towards her groin.

He also kissed the youngster on the mouth in 2010 and attempted to insert his tongue into her mouth, and did the same between December 2010 and October 2012.

READ MORE: Farmer caused fear and alarm to female tenants with 'relentless intimidation'

Telfer sexually assaulted the girl on various occasions between October 2015 and October 2016 when he induced her to sit on his knee, placed his hands inside her upper clothing and touched her on the body and breasts.

He committed similar sick acts between January and December 2017, while he embraced the then-teenager between 2016 and 2017 at a hospital, placed his hands within the waistband of her trousers and touched her body.

The sentencing hearing was told that Telfer, who is officially a first offender, is also facing legal proceedings in England but has been assessed as presenting a 'low risk of reoffending'.

A defence advocate told the court that Telfer, who now lives in East Kilbride, would benefit from taking part in the Moving Forward Making Changes programme for sex offenders, adding: "He lives in a small community and the loss of his good name is also a not insignificant effect on him."

Sheriff David Pender gave Telfer three months to pay the £3k compensation order to the court.