The man caught having sex with a bicycle in an Ayr hostel has been put on three years' probation, the Telegraph reports.

Robert Stewart, 51, had already earned himself an entry in the sex offenders' register for the incident last October in which two cleaners discovered him "wearing only a white T-shirt, naked from the waist down" and "holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex", as Depute fiscal Gail Davidson told Ayr Sheriff Court last month.

Stewart pleaded guilty to a sexual breach of the peace, and today appeared again in court for sentencing. Sheriff Colin Miller said: "In almost four decades in the law I thought I had come across every perversion known to mankind, but this is a new one on me. I have never heard of a 'cycle-sexualist'."

Stewart's solicitor Gerry Tierney described the defendant as a "sad little man" who was "trying to tackle his drink problem". He explained: "When the cleaners came in, he thought he was having fun with them. He does not think it is funny any more, and he has had to move home three times because he has been targeted because of the offence."

Stewart was warned that "if he re-offended he would be sent to prison". ®

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