A couple convicted of public indecency “brought the embarrassment on themselves”, a sheriff has said.
Kirsty Jones, 34, and sex offender Clive Weatherhogg, 49, were fined after being seen having sex in a communal garden in Forfar.
The pair are in the process of moving home, Forfar Sheriff Court was told – in part due to the “humiliation” they felt after their neighbours gave evidence.
The al fresco liaison happened at the Fruithill area of the town on March 25.
‘His bum was going up and down’
Both accused claimed Jones had been sunbathing in a small, light-coloured bikini and Weatherhogg had dropped down to cuddle her.
They said his jeans had possibly slipped after he unbuckled his belt and trouser button due to stomach pain.
Sheriff Derek Reekie rejected this defence at a trial held earlier this year.
Neighbours told how they clearly saw the couple having sex on a bench in the garden.
One said: “She was naked. He had a top on – his jeans were down to his ankles.
“He was in between her legs.
“Her legs were in the air and his bum was going up and down.”
When asked by fiscal depute Matthew Kerr how many times she saw Weatherhogg’s “bum go up and down,” she replied: “I didn’t count. More than once.”
‘It wasn’t a very pleasant scene’
She said she was so shocked she called her neighbour to verify what she was seeing – which she did.
She said: “There they were and here he was with his buttocks shown and her legs stuck out.
“It wasn’t a very pleasant scene, I have to say.”
In reference to the suggestion the pair were merely cuddling, she said: “I have never seen anybody hug anybody with b******s shown,” before amending to “buttocks shown”.
“That is some hug, I tell you.”
She explained both witnesses had a “running commentary” over the phone as the co-accused’s continued in the afternoon sun.
Coverage complaints
In mitigation for Jones, solicitor Nicola Brown said: “You can see this is a woman of intellect.
“She is not currently working.”
Ms Brown complained the reporting of the case had been embarrassing for her client.
But Sheriff Reekie said the pair had “brought it on themselves” for breaking the law.
Ian Houston, in mitigation for Weatherhogg, said: “(This prosecution) is more damaging than any sentence your lordship could impose.
“This case has caused considerable embarrassment and humiliation.”
Fining Weatherhogg £590 and Jones £295, Sheriff Reekie said: “You brought this on yourself.
“You feel embarrassment and shame and there is no-one else to blame.
“This was an aberration. It was reckless and inconsiderate.”
Previous conviction
Weatherhogg was already on the Sex Offenders Register.
Then of Cupar, he was sentenced to six years in prison when he was convicted by jurors of coercing a woman into having filmed hotel liaisons with a stranger before sending the video to the victim’s sister as her family sat down to Christmas dinner.
He set up a series of encounters for the woman and a man called Edward Amobi, who he found through an adult website, over the course of a year.
Labelled as “odious,” Weatherhogg sent a seedy video to the victim’s sister on December 25 2014.
The jury took 95 minutes after a five-day trial to find him guilty of coercing the woman into having sex with the man and sending the “revenge porn” video.
At Dundee Sheriff Court he admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner by sending the videos without her consent.
However, following a miscarriage of justice finding, the conviction was quashed in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh in 2017.
Weatherhogg’s sentence was reduced to 18 months behind bars and 10 years on the Register.
For all the latest from the court rooms of Tayside and Fife, join our Facebook group.
