JOHN MACLEOD

EASTER ROSS PENSIONER FOUND GUILTY OF SEX ASSAULT ON BARMAID

A pensioner has been found guilty of sexual assault after an incident at an Easter Ross pub that was caught on CCTV.John MacLeod had denied a charge that he thrust his body against a barmaid at the bar, claiming he had just been “dancing about” when the incident occurred.But the woman told the court that she was bent over cleaning up a smashed glass when she felt the 74-year-old thrusting his groin against her backside three times.‘He touched me without my consent’In evidence led by fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh, she said the incident had left her “shocked” and “angry” adding: “He had touched me without my consent.”The woman, who cannot be named, told the court: “Just because I am a barmaid doesn’t give anyone the right to put their hands on me.”Footage of the incident, played during the trial, showed Macleod dancing in front of the bar and then positioned behind the woman and making a movement before she stood up and confronted him.The court heard that Macleod had initially been barred from the pub, but that when the worker heard he was to be allowed back weeks later she had resigned her position and reported the matter to police.‘All I was doing was dancing about’Taking to the stand in his own defence, retired merchant seaman Macleod told his solicitor Graham Mann: “All I was doing was dancing about.”He said he had asked the barmaid: “You not dancing?” moments before she challenged him.But Sheriff Neil Wilson rejected Macleod’s version of events, saying he found the woman to be an “utterly credible and reliable” witness.He also noted her visible reaction to the incident in the CCTV footage and her obvious distress afterwards.Finding the pensioner guilty of a single charge of sexual assault, Sheriff Wilson deferred sentencing for the production of a criminal justice social work report.He also placed Macleod, of Shore Road, Invergordon, on the sex offenders register with immediate effect – the eventual length of registration to be determined at sentencing.The case will call again next month.