A teenager who sexually assaulted a four-year-old girl when he was just 12 has avoided a prison sentence.

Our sister newspaper The Gazette reports that Calum Blair carried out four sickening attacks over a four-year-period.

He targeted the youngster, who can’t be named for legal reasons, when she was aged between four and eight.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard that Blair, of Bowfield Way, Howwood, carried out the first two attacks when the youngster was aged between four and five.

He later struck another two times when she was aged between seven and eight.

Blair, 19, interfered with the girl at his own home and a house in the Renfrewshire village of Brookfield.

When he appeared in the dock in July Blair pleaded guilty to the two charges he faced.

He admitted one charge of using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour towards the girl when she was four and five by touching her private parts and performing sex acts on her.

Blair committed those attacks between October 2007 and November 2008, when he was aged 12 and 13.

He also held his hands up to sexually assaulting her when she was aged seven and eight by doing the same — touching her inappropriately and performing sex acts on her.

Those offences were committed between December 2010 and March 2011, when Blair was 15.

He had been accused of sexually assaulting the girl as late as October 2013 but prosecutors agreed the abuse had stopped in March 2011.

Blair was reported to police over his actions leading to him appearing in court over the attacks last year.

Sheriff Colin Pettigrew deferred sentence on Blair last month and when he returned to the dock on Tuesday he was placed on the sex offenders register and banned from having unsupervised contact with children aged up to 18.

The sheriff also placed Blair on probation for two years, explaining that the lack of criminal record and Blair's age at the time of the offence had influenced his decision to impose a community-based disposal.