A CROSSGATES pensioner has been sentenced for stalking offences against a 13-year-old schoolgirl.

Stewart Mackenzie, 69, of Windmill Knowe, appeared in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted previously that between May 8-16 last year at an address in Crossgates and elsewhere, he engaged in a course of conduct which caused the girl fear and alarm; on various occasions he followed her, loitered in her presence, approached her, engaged with her and watched her.

The court was told Mackenzie was hanging about repeatedly when the girl was going to school and coming home.

On one occasion he said to her: “What are you scared of?”

Depute fiscal Jill Currie said the girl was left feeling “scared and physically shaking” by Mackenzie’s behaviour.

The court heard the background to the offending was a previous allegation made against Mackenzie by the girl’s family.

Defence solicitor James Moncrieff said: “His position is he was trying to be friendly and he didn’t want to cause her any distress. It was not the smartest move to make even if well-intentioned.”

Mackenzie lives with his wife and now plans to move out of that area, added the solicitor.

Sheriff Alastair Brown fined Mackenzie £450.

The sheriff told Mackenzie: “I find it incomprehensible that it’s said to me that you were trying to be friendly.

“It was stalking in the legal sense and the colloquial sense. You must understand you must leave this child alone.”