A police officer from Perthshire sexually assaulted four women on the night he was hailed a hero.
David Jones groped his shocked victims while dancing to an ABBA tribute band at the Scottish First Aid awards bash at Glasgow’s Radisson Blu hotel on March 31 2023.
The married 36-year-old constable – based in Auchterarder – and three colleagues had earlier been recognised for what was described as “heroic acts of bravery”.
They had to deal with a knife-wielding man while responding to reports of a gas leak in Edinburgh.
Jones and his fellow officers collected the Chairperson’s Award at the event.
However, his six-and-a-half year career faces ruin after he was found guilty following a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court..
Sheriff Andrew McIntyre said: “The incidents were linked in character, circumstance and time of the commission of the conduct systematically pursued by you.
“The witnesses told the truth in their account of your conduct.
“I reject that they were lying or mistaken.
“I have scarcely seen more credible witnesses and I found them persuasive, compelling and each corroborated one another.”
He was found not guilty of a further three sexual assaults
‘Grinded on’ and grabbed woman
The trial heard how revellers partied to an ABBA tribute act and a DJ after awards were handed out.
A 23-year-old student told the court Jones kept trying to dance with her.
“I brushed it off but he kept following me as if he was thirsty for my attention.
“At first he grinded on me which made me feel uncomfortable.”
The woman claimed Jones then followed her, grabbed her by the hand and spun her around.
She said he tried to grab her breast over her clothes and then put his hand under her dress.
Prosecutor Abbas Ali asked her how it made her feel and the woman replied, “dirty”.
She told the trial she suffers from PTSD.
Further victims
A 30-year-old said she had been on the dancefloor with colleagues and: “I felt a distinctive bump on my back then a grab on my bum.”
The woman described it as a “grope” and a “squeeze”.
Another target, a 23 year-old, told of an “uncomfortable interaction” with a stranger who groped her breast.
She said: “I told him to get away from me.”
The man remained “lingering” near her group before pawing at her sister.
The sibling, 21, said she was “grabbed more vigorously”, leaving her “uncomfortable and intimidated”.
She said: “I was disappointed someone would do that at an event where we were there to enjoy as volunteers from charity.”
Bouncer removed ‘predatory’ Jones
Other witnesses said Jones smacked her on the bottom, put his hand around her shoulder and down to her waist and bum, respectively.
Another said he was “quite predatory” on the dancefloor and tried to grab her waist.
Security guard Evan Alexander, 28, told the court he ejected “intoxicated” Jones after being spotted encroaching the personal space of others.
Jones stated in his evidence that he “potentially” came into physical contact with the women on the dancefloor but would have stopped dancing with them had they refused.
Jones insisted he “did not know why” he had been removed at the end of the evening.
He accepted he may have apologised to the one of the women but said they were “mistaken by thinking it was something it was not”.
Jones was put on the sex offenders register, bailed and will be sentenced next month.
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