A PENSIONER accused of a string of sexual assaults and abuse involving the same woman dating back almost half a century has been acquitted on all but one of a dozen charges he faced.

Robert Falconer, 73, was alleged to have committed a number of offences at various locations in Renfrew and Ayrshire between 1972 and 1999, starting when she was 14.

However, he has been cleared of 11 charges following a trial at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.

Falconer was acquitted of eight charges on April 8. Three days later, a not guilty verdict was returned on a ninth charge and two others were found to be not proven.

However, he was given a £500 fine and ordered to pay £500 in compensation after being found guilty of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards the woman by making comments of an inappropriate and sexual nature towards her.

That incident took place during a journey in Stevenston, North Ayrshire, in November 2019.

Falconer had pleaded not guilty in March this year to all of the charges against him.

He was accused of first using indecent or libidinous practices or behaviour towards the complainer at a property in Birks Road, Renfrew, between July 17, 1972, and July 16, 1973.

The Crown alleged that Falconer, who was in his mid-20s at the time, embraced the girl, touched her leg, inserted his hand under her clothing and attempted to touch her private parts.

Similar charges accused him of committing offences in Kilwinning between 1985 and 1987, elsewhere in Renfrew between 1986 and 1989 and in 1999, in Kilbirnie in 2014 and in Ardrossan in 2015.

Among the addresses in Renfrew where offences were said to have been committed are Tiree Place and the town’s Masonic Hall.

Falconer was acquitted of sexually assaulting the same woman when she was recovering from surgery on an occasion between July 1985 and July 1987.

The Crown’s indictment alleged that he attempted to lift the woman from the floor and had demanded sexual intercourse, with intent to rape her.

Falconer, of Kilwinning, was found not guilty of a further charge of conducting himself in a disorderly manner and making comments of a sexual nature to the woman while they were attending a funeral in 2010.

Meanwhile, a charge of sexual assault against the alleged victim at a wedding in 2015 was found not proven by the court.