Former Scottish Children's Reporter manager sentenced for assaulting women

A former manager at the Scottish Children's Reporter who indecently assaulting two female colleagues has been placed under supervision for a year.

David Jones struck at work social events with one victim stating he also sent her porn via email.

The same woman described him as a "pathetic excuse of a man".

Jones - a married grandad with degrees in law and philosophy - is now retired after 32 years with the service which often deals with troubled and vulnerable youngsters.

The 71-year-old first offender denied the crimes during a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court insisting he had no idea why the women made the accusations.

But, he was found guilty of indecently assaulting both and communicating indecently with one by Sheriff Simone Sweeney.

The charges spanned between August 2007 and May 2009 occurring in Hamilton, Lanarkshire.

Jones was put under supervision for 12 months and put on the sex offenders register for a period of time that will be later specified to him.

The sheriff also ordered Jones to attend alcohol counselling and granted a non-harassment order restricting his contact with the victims for 12 months.

Sheriff Sweeney said: "I've considered all that I've read and heard and I have taken account of an absence of a criminal record.

"I'm satisfied there is an alternative to a custodial sentence."

The court earlier heard one the women - now aged 52 - said Jones molested her after initially thinking he was going to ask her to dance.

She said he used “a lot of pressure” and that she held his arms to try and stop him.

The witness added: "I did not want him to put his hands on my legs. I did not like it.

"He put his hands further up and he was laughing."

The sickened woman eventually kicked Jones between the legs.

This victim admitted she did not initially report Jones stating to the court: "He was my boss. I was embarrassed."

At another work's party at Glasgow's Princes Square, the woman claimed Jones struck again as they got into a taxi.

She recalled: "He hit me very hard between the legs. I assume with his hand.

"I got such a fright. It was painful that I hit him on the chest and told him to f*** off."

Jones was said to have laughed in her face "hysterically".

The woman was so upset she asked her husband to collect her instead.

The court was shown numerous emails said to have been Jones sending pornography with inappropriate messages.

The woman replied at one stage to him: “You are a pathetic excuse of a man. I will not hesitate to report you to the police. Do not contact me ever again.”

Jones stated: “Sorry, did not mean to offend, will not be in touch ever again.”

The woman said she was angry at the "intrusion of getting porn videos from an ex-boss".

She initially went to another manager before going to police sparking a probe.

It then emerged a now 59-year-old woman had also been targeted by Jones at an office bash in Hamilton in 2007.

He had stroked her legs up towards her thighs and crotch despite her warning him to "get off".

Sleazy Jones claimed he wanted to "s**g" his colleague.

He then tried to laugh it off and continued chatting as if nothing had happened adding he ought to "grow up".

The traumatised woman described how the "uncomfortable and horrendous" sex attack felt like it lasted "forever".

She told the trial: "I have got a great recollection of what happened in that office.

"When you say no, it should mean no."

Jones, also of Hamilton, told how colleagues he worked with were "almost like a family sometimes".

He denied the attacks insisting with one of the women he only had "light hearted conversations and banter".

Jones: "I do not know why they would say that. I do not know why their recollection is not the same as mine."

In her closing speech, prosecutor Jenny Reid said Jones was guilty of a "sustained course of conduct" by a man in "a managerial position" against women he worked with.

Paul Sweeney, defending, told the sentencing that the dad-of-four continues to deny wrongdoing.

The lawyer added: "He is a well educated man, he went to the Gregorian University in Rome achieving a degree in philosophy and did a law degree in Scotland - graduating in 1979.

"He was then employed by the Childrens Reporter where he was thought of by colleagues he worked with and trained.

"He is someone who dedicated his life to make that organisation better."