Ayrshire bus sex act man is caught breaching court orders

Michael Reid, 37, appeared in the dock for sentencing after failing to inform police of a change in his personal circumstances – one of the requirements of being on the sex offenders register.

Reid, previously of Kilwinning but now of Elm Park in Ardrossan, had been put on the register and placed under social work supervision for his seedy behaviour in front of two 12-year-old girls on the top deck of a number 11 bus in 2019.

Reid was sentenced on March 23, 2020 and was put on an electronic tag and ordered to stay at home in the evenings – only for the first strict Covid lockdown to be imposed across the country later that same day.

The procurator fiscal depute told Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on August 31 that Reid, while still subject to the notification requirements on the sex offenders register, was found to have failed to register a new bank card.

The breach came to light following a routine visit by police.

The prosecutor added: “He stated that ‘I now know I made a mistake’.”

Sheriff Colin Bissett said: "I accept this was a simple oversight on your part.

"Under the circumstances you are admonished and dismissed."

We previously reported how Reid looked at the girls while performing the sex act, then paused when new passengers boarded.

Whilst the girls were talking, the accused kept looking at them and smiling, and at one point intervened in their conversation

His then defence solicitor Brian Holliman told the original sentencing hearing: “The remorse, embarrassment and shame he feels in relation to the offence is genuine and he recognises and acknowledges the impact on the complainers.”

The disgusted dad of one of the girls said at the time that the tagging element of Reid’s sentence was “a bit ridiculous” in view of the Covid restrictions put in place later that day, and that Reid was “basically getting away with it”.