A KILWINNING man who exposed himself at a train station in front of a child has avoided being placed on the Sex Offender’s Register.

Darren Blair, 43, dodged a jail term after drunkenly exposing his private parts to a woman at Irvine Railway Station on December 15 last year.

He committed the disgusting act while a nine-year-old child was nearby.

Blair, of Kilwinning’s Blair Road, previously pleaded guilty to the offence at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court and returned to the dock last week.

Defence solicitor Niall Macfadyen conceded to presiding Sheriff Shirley Foran that Blair’s social work report was not very good with Blair trying to minimise his repulsive behaviour.

Mr Macfadyen said his client has a clear problem with alcohol describing Blair’s sozzled act as “bizarre”. The solicitor said Blair was anxious to put the matter behind him and was not treating the charge lightly.

But Sheriff Foran voiced her concerns about a suggestion made by her colleague Sheriff Derek Livingston who placed Blair on the Sex Offender’s Register.

Sheriff Livingston suggested previously that there was a serious sexual element to Blair’s offence.

But Mr Macfadyen argued that the act was more to do with the high level of alcohol in Blair’s system.

Blair was sentenced to three years supervision, placed on a two month tagging order and ordered to complete the Moving Forwards, Making Changes programme.