A serial sex pest has been banned by a court from watching erotic cartoons.
Convicted paedophile Gordon Simpson dodged a prison sentence last year after he admitted stalking a terrified Perth shop assistant.
The court heard it was a “ham-fisted” attempt to strike up a relationship with the woman.
Simpson, who was placed on supervision for two years, returned to the dock this week for a community payback review.
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC was told Simpson was engaging well with his order and is now addressing his offending.
But the sheriff noted concerns he had been watching animations featuring children.
Conduct order
She told Simpson she was mostly pleased with the latest report prepared for the court by social workers.
“You are engaging well and you’re attendance has been described as exemplary.
“The only concern that has been raised is regarding the animations that you have been viewing – however, that is not a contravention of your order.”
She imposed an extra conduct requirement, banning Simpson from accessing online films or DVDs featuring sexualised depictions of children, without first getting permission from his supervising officer.
Simpson, who once claimed being obese made him look at child abuse images, was previously told he must tell his supervisor if he ever starts a relationship.
Stared at shop worker
Simpson was sentenced in July 2022 via video link because he was too big to fit inside a prisoner transport van.
Fiscal depute Nicole Lewis earlier told how Simpson went to a city centre vape store and stood for long periods of time, staring at a female employee.
“He stood in the shop while the complainer carried out her duties.
“He would repeatedly make comments but never purchase anything.”
Ms Lewis said Simpson “constantly watched” the woman and would leave the shop whenever other staff entered.
“This made the complainer increasingly uneasy and scared.”
On one occasion, he stared for as long as 40 minutes.
Managers were alerted and the situation was reported to police.
Ham-fisted attempt at finding love
Simpson admitted engaging in a course of conduct which caused the employee fear or alarm between April 12 and 22.
Solicitor Linda Clark, defending, told the court: “This was a juvenile attempt to engage in conversation with a young lady who was being nice to him.
“I presume that she was being professional and appropriate to a customer and he thought she was being friendly to him, which he took to mean something more.
“He was drumming up the courage to ask her out.”
Ms Clark said: “This was a very ham-fisted attempt at developing a relationship.”
The convicted sex offender began visiting the High Street shop after being released from prison.
Simpson, who was originally jailed for possession of child abuse images, was imprisoned again in 2021 for having a mobile phone capable of accessing the internet – a breach of his Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
Three years earlier, he was caged for having a laptop without police monitoring software.
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