Musselburgh man facing jail after repeatedly breaching order by continuing to have contact with children
Sanderson is facing a jail term for repeatedly breaching his order
A Musselburgh man who changed his name in a bid to hide his deviant past is facing a jail term for repeatedly breaching a strict sexual offences order.
Gordon Sanderson, 68, was sentenced to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) in 2015 and has flouted the conditions on several occasions by continuing to have contact with children.
He was previously jailed after befriending women and children at a local church and then caged for six months for approaching two schoolgirls at Edinburgh Castle, both in 2019.
Sanderson then escaped custody when he breached the order for a third time after he failed to reveal he was in a relationship with an adult woman three years ago.
The SOPO conditions state Sanderson must inform his supervising officer of any romantic relationships he enters into and cannot have any contact with children under the age of 16.
Sanderson - who has recently been using the name Andrew Pearson - was back in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday after he was caught speaking to two young girls at a play park.
The court was told Sanderson, of Musselburgh, East Lothian, had attended the park with a friend to meet a family and had been seen speaking to the girls who were aged six and 10-years-old.
Prosecutor Stuart Coleman said Sanderson had accompanied his friend to meet with the family at the children’s play park in Midlothian on a single occasion between June 1 and August 31, 2024.
Court papers listed the names Gordon Sanderson aka Andrew Pearson and he pled guilty to breaching the SOPO by contacting and communicating with the two schoolgirls in a manner that was not inadvertent and was avoidable.
A not guilty plea was accepted to Sanderson failing to provide details of a relationship he had struck up with an adult woman to the authorities between April 1, 2024 and January 25 last year.
Defending solicitor Suzanne Pannell said her client had committed “a relatively minor breach” of the court sexual prevention order and asked for his bail to be continued.
Sheriff Ferguson Thomson agree to continue bail and deferred sentence for the preparation of a social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment to next month.
Sanderson was jailed for 16 months after he was caught breaching the SOPO by befriending unsuspecting women and children at a church he had joined in Musselburgh in 2019.
He was also handed a six month custodial sentence later the same year after he admitted communicating with two young schoolgirls during a church trip to Edinburgh Castle.
The court heard Sanderson volunteered to drive the church minibus on a family excursion to the capital tourist destination and had lured an 11-year-old girl away from the group during the visit.
The girl’s worried father conducted a search of the area and found his child alone with Sanderson at the castle’s Regimental Museum.
Sanderson was also caught holding and dancing with a second young girl within the church despite no music being played in the hall.
He escaped a further prison term three years ago when a sheriff issued a restriction of liberty order when he breached the order by engaging in a secret romantic relationship with a woman.