A SERIAL sex offender once jailed for an attack on a 71-year-old woman has been given a life sentence.

Kieron Sullivan is back behind bars after the High Court in Glasgow was told he was a risk of committing crimes of the "highest level of harm".

The 23-year-old was caught carrying out sex acts outside the homes of two shocked women in Armadale, West Lothian, in March and April 2023.

The first of those happened just a day after he was initially spared jail for groping a pensioner in Glasgow's Kinning Park as he shouted at her: "I need a s***."

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Sullivan was later locked up for 27 months last August for that attack having breached a community payback order originally imposed.

He then went on to appear at Livingston Sheriff Court in September 2023 to admit to the Armadale offences - two charges of engaging in sexual activity in a public place.

But, the case was remitted to the high court for a full risk assessment to be carried out on Sullivan.

He already had 29 previous convictions - his first when he was 16.

These included assaults, robbery, having offensive weapons and breaches of court orders.

Sullivan's lawyer Rhonda Anderson urged Lady Drummond not to make an Order for Lifelong Restriction and instead impose an extended sentence involving a jail term, counselling and supervision.

But, the judge said the report had identified Sullivan had a "sexual pre-occupation" and "attitudes that condone sexual and general violence".

Lady Drummond told him: "The assessment is that it is your physical violence that would cause the highest levels of harm.

"They would likely be perpetrated against anyone whether strangers or those known to you."

The judge added, having taken all factors into consideration, that an OLR was appropriate.

Sullivan was also ordered to serve a minimum 18-month sentence.

Lady Drummond said it was not automatic that he would be freed at the end of that term.

She stated: "You will only be released when the Parole Board determines that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that you should continue to be confined in prison."

Sullivan - who appeared for the hearing via video-link from jail - was also put on the sex offenders list indefinitely.