A former police officer has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a colleague on a work night out in Dundee.
Greg Jamieson, who now works for Conservative MSP Liam Kerr, narrowly escaped jail after he was convicted of touching the the breast of a female police officer.
The married father also assaulted the woman by repeatedly touching her hair against her will.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard the offences happened during an alcohol-fuelled evening at a bar on August 24.
The 33-year-old, who resigned from the force as a result of the court case, was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and has been placed on the sex offenders register for five years.
Sheriff Alastair Brown said he would normally have considered a prison sentence but had decided against it since the effect of the court case on Jamieson “had been greater than on most people”.
However, he added that the workplace culture at Police Scotland “had to change” after hearing the victim had initially been hesitant about reporting the incident.
Sheriff Brown said: “It seems the culture was very much that you don’t grass on colleagues and you put up with things.
“If that is the case then this needs to change.
“Nobody is entitled to touch anybody else without their permission.
“Where it’s repeated in the face of protestations, it is plainly assault.”
The court heard that the first time Jamieson touched the woman’s hair, she and her colleagues laughed.
However, she became increasingly “annoyed” and “upset” as Jamieson continued touching her.
At one point the woman physically restrained him. However, he then placed his hand on her chest.
On her return to work, she mentioned the incidents to her sergeant when asked how the evening had gone, but said she had not intended to make a complaint.
Giving evidence behind a screen, she said: “I found it a difficult situation.
“I was concerned about the repercussions of having to highlight the fact that my colleague, a serving police officer, had conducted himself in this way.
“It took for me to sit down and think that if it had been a member of the public to report something like this to me, I would have to investigate it.
“But it was then taken out of my hands.”
The court heard the sergeant escalated the issue to senior management and it became a criminal matter.
After the woman gave a statement, another colleague was said to have “had a go” at her for reporting the assault.
Defence solicitor Pamela Rodgers admitted that her client, who has no previous convictions, had been a “pest”, but argued that there had been “no sexual intent” in his behaviour.
She said: “I don’t think there was an intention to assault or harm her in any way. It was drunken behaviour and no one else saw it as a problem at the time”.
Jamieson, of Strathyre Place, Dundee, showed no emotion as he was sentenced.
Police Scotland had not commented by the time of publication.
