A notorious paedophile who stalked an 11-year-old girl has been released from custody after a trial against him collapsed.
Philip Robertson was accused of breaching the terms of a Sex Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) by being in contact with a baby girl at a house in Angus where he worked as a gardener.
The 63-year-old had been ordered to stay away from children as part of his sentence for lurking outside a schoolgirl’s house in Charleston, near Glamis, and staring into her bedroom.
He was tracked down by tell-tale footprints left in the snow near her wendy house.
Robertson was remanded in custody in December for the alleged breach and went before a jury at Perth Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
But after a day’s evidence, prosecutors confirmed they were no longer seeking a conviction.
Robertson, listed as a prisoner at HMP Perth, was told he had been found not guilty and would be released.
The baby’s parents told the court although Robertson was sometimes in the same room as their child, he never spoke to her or touched her.
No contact with baby
Robertson was cleared of breaching his SOPO – imposed at Forfar Sheriff Court in 2020 – by being in contact with a female child at a remote property near Memus between July 1 and December 17, 2021.
Jurors heard from the father of the baby girl, who said Robertson had been taken on to work in the garden.
He said that Robertson was occasionally invited into their house for lunch, when the baby would sometimes be sitting in her high chair.
“He was never close enough to her that he could physically touch her,” he said.
The dad, who cannot be identified, told the trial: “One time, he rang me while I was on a train and told me something had happened.
“He said he couldn’t explain on the phone but said we should probably expect a visit from police officers.”
Robertson was invited to the house to explain what was going on.
He confessed that he was subject to the sex offences order and told the couple he had been in prison in Bulgaria.
History of sex offences
Robertson, formerly of Brechin, was jailed for eight months for exposing himself to three nine-year-olds in a hotel there in 2017.
Seven years earlier, he was spared jail for flashing at 10 children at locations in Aberdeen and Ellon.
The father-of-one was sentenced to a three year supervision order for stalking the schoolgirl at Charleston.
The young victim’s mother described the sentence as a “slap on the wrist”.
Robertson’s presence in the village had alarmed locals, who mounted a poster campaign to boot him out.
Flyers with his photo appeared on bus stops and sign posts, warning: “Convicted paedophile Philip Robertson not welcome in Charleston Village.”
