Abduction attempt man convicted

Thomson was found guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court

A retired Kelso architect has been convicted of trying to abduct young girls in the town - and indecently assaulting one of them.

James Thomson, 69, was also found guilty of shaving off his beard before an identity parade and trying to pervert the course of justice.

Seven children gave evidence via video from Galashiels - the first time it has happened at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Thomson was put on the sex offenders register and will be sentenced later.

The seven children gave their evidence from Heriot Watt University's campus in the Scottish Borders.

They told how Thomson had stopped his distinctive green car, in his hometown of Kelso, in June, supposedly to ask them directions.

Cordoned off

He had tried to grab one youngster - asked another three to get into his car - and put his hand down another seven-year-old's trousers.

He claimed the girl had fallen off her bike and he had only helped her back up.

The town was cordoned off that evening and police searched Thomson's home.

They found a room with a child's bed and a chain on the door, which he said was his grandson's.

Thomson, who is suffering from terminal cancer, said he had shaved off the beard he had grown after chemotherapy because it was straggly - not because he had been told of an identity parade.

At the end of a seven-day trial he was found guilty by majority of three charges.

He was unanimously found guilty of another three charges including the assault and attempt to pervert the course of justice.