A 54-YEAR-OLD man has been ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work at Selkirk Sheriff Court after admitting being found with indecent images of children.

Martin Jowettt pleaded guilty to making indecent photographs of children at a house in Eshiels, near Peebles, over a 25-year period between April 1998 and June 2023.

The number of images involved was not revealed in open court but his lawyer accepted it met the custody threshold.

In addition to the unpaid work Jowett, now living at Maybole, South Ayrshire, had his name placed on the Sex Offenders Register for three years.

Sheriff Kevin McCarron said only his lack of previous offending and favourable background reports had spared him a custodial sentence.