A pensioner, who abused two young girls and is now living in a bail hostel in Cleckheaton, must attend a sex offenders' programme as part of a three-year community rehabilitation order imposed by a judge .

Keith Padgett, 69, had already spent five months on remand at Armley jail, Leeds, before Judge Alistair McCallum released him last month so he could be assessed at the hostel.

The judge warned Padgett, who had no previous convictions, that if he received an adverse report he would face going back to custody. But he read that the pensioner had been a model resident. Judge McCallum told Padgett's barrister that bearing in mind his age and previous good character a rehabilitation order was the most sensible way of dealing with him.

Padgett, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty last month to seven charges of indecent assault involving two girls, who cannot be identified for legal reasons. His barrister Elyas Patel told Bradford Crown Court that Padgett had spared the girls the trauma of having to relive their ordeals in court and he had spent a significant period in custody since February this year.