A CHILD sex offender, who has not been serving his ‘tag’ sentence after fleeing his home in Crossgates, has appeared back in court.

Nicholas Denison has been living with relatives in Cornwall, saying he had been driven out by his neighbours in Fife.

He should have been on a restriction of liberty order but this could not be transferred to England for legal reasons.

Denison, 62, sent pictures of his penis online, believing they were going to girls aged 12 and 13, but was caught in a police sting.

In June, he was sentenced to a community payback order with 300 hours of unpaid work, three years of supervision and a restriction of liberty order for four months.

This was despite the neighbours writing a letter to court expressing their deep concerns about having to bring up their children next to him.

There were protests in the street and a neighbour was fined £320 for causing a disturbance outside Denison’s home and shouting “f****** beast”.

Then, in July, Dunfermline Sheriff Court was told Denison was now living in the Truro area. His wife was still in Crossgates but they planned to sell the house and live elsewhere in Scotland.

At that stage, the restriction of liberty order was suspended for three months.

When the matter came back to court, Denison was again not present and Sheriff Charles Macnair was unimpressed, saying: “I thought him going to England was a temporary measure.”

He warned if his client could not find an address where he could serve his sentence then “another address will be found for him”.

Denison was back in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court for the latest hearing.

Defence solicitor Mark Harrower said Denison and his wife had separated and that his client now had no plans to return to Scotland.

However, he said there was a procedure whereby the Scottish ‘tag’ order could be revoked and a similar one imposed to be served in England.

Sheriff Wylie Robertson decided to follow that course and imposed a new three-month electronically-monitored curfew to be served in Cornwall.

Denison had served a month of his ‘tag’ sentence in Crossgates before leaving his home.