AYR PENSIONER ROBERT MCCURDIE FOUND GUILTY OF HISTORIC SEXUAL ABUSE CHARGES

An Ayr-based pensioner, Robert McCurdie, has been convicted of historic sexual abuse involving three female victims, including an eight-year-old girl at the time of the incidents. McCurdie, aged 68, denied six charges encompassing sexual assaults, lewd acts, and indecent behaviour dating back to the late 1990s. However, a jury at Ayr Sheriff Court found him guilty of multiple offences.

He was convicted of assaulting a woman in 1999 and the early 2000s by repeatedly groping her above her clothing and kissing her on the lips. Additionally, McCurdie was found guilty of committing lewd acts on an eight-year-old girl in Ayr on August 1, 1998, after climbing into her bed while she was sleeping, touching her inside her clothes, and sexually assaulting her.

The jury also convicted him of indecently assaulting a third female victim on January 1, 2010, by placing his hand inside her clothing while she was asleep. Despite these convictions, McCurdie was acquitted of other charges, including allegations that he forced a girl aged seven or eight to watch him engaging in sex with a woman during the mid-1980s, and of assaulting the same girl. He was also cleared of breaching a court bail condition by approaching one of his victims last year.

Sentencing has been deferred for criminal justice social work reports and a risk assessment. McCurdie remains on bail and will return to court for sentencing at a later date. He has been placed on the sex offenders register on an interim basis, with the duration to be decided at sentencing.