October 2015 A serial sex offender convicted of following young boys could spend the next three years in prison. Thomas Twycross was on early release from jail when he stared at youngsters aged eight and 11 as they played in the street. He tried to hide behind a wall and a car as he spied on them. Twycross (62), of Grange Avenue, Netherton, was found guilty at Hamilton Sheriff Court of causing fear and alarm to three boys near his home on July 21 this year. He was jailed for two years and eight months in 2012 after he admitted making indecent remarks to a girl aged 12 near his then home in Freesia Court, Motherwell. He also admitted having obscene photographs of children. Twycross was jailed in 2003 for pestering young girls at a park in Coatbridge. In 2006 he got a three-year stretch for stalking girls aged eight and 14 in Bellshill where he was living. Last week the court heard that Twycross was on licence when he committed the latest offence. The licence has been recalled and he could remain in jail until September 2019 as a result. Defence agent Raymond Ferguson said the parole board is ‘unlikely to take a sympathetic view’ of the latest offending. Sheriff Vincent Smith said it might appear ‘surprising’ the accused had been prosecuted under summary procedure where sentencing powers are ‘somewhat restricted’. The sheriff said there was a ‘significant’ sexual element in this case and jailed him for a year, the maximum available. Boys scared by serial paedophile with long history of offending A serial offender has been convicted of following young boys and frightening them near his Netherton home. Thomas Twycross stared at the youngsters, aged eight and 11, as they played in the street and tried to hide behind a wall and a car as he spied on them. The 62-year-old has been jailed several times over the last 12 years for offences involving children and is behind bars again. He was found guilty at Hamilton Sheriff Court of causing fear and alarm to three boys in Grange Avenue, Netherton, and nearby Rosehall Terrace and Oakbank Avenue on July 21 this year. Allegations that he took photographs of them and touched one boy on the leg were deleted. Twycross, of Grange Avenue, denied any wrongdoing and the court heard the boys failed to pick him out at an identification parade. However, Sheriff Vincent Smith decided there was enough evidence to convict him. The sheriff deferred sentence until later this month and Twycross was remanded in custody. The sheriff was told that he had been put on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period just three years ago. Thomas Twycross was jailed for two years and eight months in 2012 after he admitted making indecent remarks to a girl aged 12 near his then home in Freesia Court, Motherwell. He also admitted having obscene photographs of children. Neighbours were furious he had been housed beside them when they knew nothing of his disturbing background. Twycross had been jailed in 2003 for pestering young girls at a park in Coatbridge. In 2006 he got a three-year stretch for stalking girls aged eight and 14 in Bellshill where he was living. He said then he was trying to change his ways. February 2012 Neighbour fury as sex offender strikes again NEIGHBOURS were shocked this week to learn that a serial sex offender had been housed beside them in Motherwell. Thomas Twycross is behind bars again after making indecent remarks to a girl of 12 and being caught with pornographic pictures of children. But residents of Freesia Court in Motherwell are furious they were not told of the repeat offender’s disturbing background. Twycross (58) was jailed for two years and eight months, and put on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period at Hamilton Sheriff Court last week. He admitted making indecent remarks to a girl in Freesia Court on July 14 last year and having obscene images of children. Twycross was jailed for a year and put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years in 2003 after pestering girls aged eight and nine at a park in Coatbridge. Then in 2006 he was sent to prison for three years after he admitted stalking two girls of eight near his home in Bellshill. A neighbour in Freesia Court said: “It’s shocking that a man with his background is given a flat and the neighbours aren’t told anything about him.”