SENTENCE has been further deferred on a Galashiels pensioner who thought he was sending sexual communications to a 12-year-old girl and asked her to send him “naughty pictures”.

Brian Edwards arranged to meet the person he knew as “Olivia”, at the town’s Transport Interchange in April last year and told her, if anyone asked, to tell them she was his granddaughter.

The then 67-year-old, who also asked about sharing a bed and whether she would be wearing sexy underwear, called her a “naughty sweetheart” and told her “age was only a number”.

But Edwards, now 68, had been communicating with an undercover police officer who had set up a fake profile online, which attracted his attention.

When officers raided his home in Tulley Court they found more than a hundred indecent images of children on a mobile phone.

Defence lawyer Ed Hulme told Selkirk Sheriff Court that in addition to a Criminal Justice Social Work Report and a Restriction of Liberty Order assessment, a psychological assessment would be beneficial before sentencing.

Sentence was deferred until July 8 for the psychological assessment to be prepared.

Edwards is already subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act.