A 65-YEAR-OLD sex offender has been warned he could be jailed for his latest offence.

Alan Smith, of Maxwell Crescent, Cowdenbeath, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted that on September 27, at Dunfermline Building Society, High Street, Cowdenbeath, he approached and requested repeatedly that two girls, aged 13 and 14, enter a taxi with him, causing fear or alarm.

Sheriff James MacDonald advised Smith to seek legal representation as “it is within my contemplation to send you to prison”.

He deferred sentence until December 14 to allow Smith to be represented.

Smith groped a female supermarket worker previously and was put on the sex offenders' register when sentenced for that offence in October last year.

He told police he was “having a laugh” and the young woman must have been “in a bad mood not to have seen the funny side”.

On that occasion, Sheriff MacDonald said he had reservations about not jailing Smith but instead gave him unpaid work.

The incident was caught on CCTV and shown at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

The video showed Smith approaching the woman from behind and touching the inside of her leg.

He then walked back and did the same thing again to the shocked victim.

On that occasion, defence solicitor Michelle Renton said: “He has nothing of this nature on his record. Given how embarrassed he is, he’s unlikely to do anything like this again.”

For that offence, Sheriff James Macdonald imposed a community payback order with 200 hours of unpaid work and 18 months’ supervision. Smith was also put on the sex offenders' register for 18 months.