AN AYRSHIRE catfish pervert who is obsessed with young boys is facing a lengthy spell behind bars.

Convicted sex offender Graham Scobie, previously of Saltcoats, could be caged for up to five years after he was again caught with child abuse images - and breached a strict court order imposed to protect the public from him.

Scobie was spared jail, and placed on a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO), last February, after he was caught with almost 100 sick images and horrific films of children being abused on his laptop.

And he was found to have even more images - and be in breach of the SOPO - by officers from the Offender Management Unit in May last year.

The details emerged on Monday when Scobie, 50, appeared in the dock at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.

He had earlier admitted two charges of breaching his SOPO by not providing police with the information as required, and returned to the dock to be sentenced.

And he also admitted having more child abuse images in his home.

Procurator Fiscal Depute Ruairidh Ferguson told the court that officers from the Offender Management Unit went to check Scobie was adhering to the conditions of his SOPO - and found he wasn’t.

The prosecutor explained: “He was required to provide a list of the devices and aliases he was using online.

“Officers went to the accused’s home on May 28, 2019.

“They noted he was in possession of an HP Compaq laptop.

“Images were found on the laptop.”

Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane was told one of the five images Scobie had showed a boy, aged around seven, being raped by an adult male, while the other four images contained boys aged between seven and 12.

The judge was also told that Scobie had failed to inform officers he had a Skype profile he used - in the name Joe Bloggs - and he was a member of a website called Chaturbate.

Mr Ferguson, prosecuting, explained: “This website features live webcam performances by individual webcam models, showing striptease and dirty talk to masturbation, and can often be highly explicit.”

As she called for background reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing, and adjourned the case until next month for that to be done, Sheriff McFarlane told Scobie: “You’ll appreciate you’re going nowhere in the meantime.”

Scobie, who is in custody, replied from the dock: “Yes, I do.”

Last year the court heard Scobie was a risk to children after he admitted spending his days watching pornography and performing sex acts on himself.

At the time, Procurator Fiscal Depute Kirsty Urquhart said: “He has a sexual preoccupation. He has admitted to watching porn most days.

“He has admitted to accessing and sharing material for some time. He has admitted to having deviant sexual interests, in particular an interest in young teenage boys.

“He has victim access. He goes out most days and travels to Glasgow from Irvine when he spends his days walking around parks, Kelvingrove Park in particular, and going to museums.

“He repeatedly puts himself in situations where he could come in to contact with children.

“His laptop has been examined by police and there is evidence that he accessed porn on a daily basis, especially barely legal and young males.

“He has 10 separate Facebook accounts with different profile pictures and names.

“His friends on all of them are all male. Some are young adult males who look very young.

“He confirmed to officers that he engaged in sexual chat with some of these friends.”