A serial flasher who deliberately wears red pants to attract the attention of young girls has been spared jail – despite having 20 convictions.
Over the last 25 years, Brian Dawson has exposed himself to youngsters on the streets of Aberdeen in order to “get a buzz”.
And when officers in the city started to recognise him, he took trips out to Aberdeenshire so he could offend there.
Yesterday the 65-year-old appeared back in the dock for the 20th time and admitted exposing himself to three schoolgirls in Stonehaven.
Fiscal depute Stephanie Ross said the friends had been waiting for a bus on Barclay Street when they noticed Dawson acting suspiciously beside Farmfoods.
She said he had been wearing a long coat, which was closed at first, and was standing with his hands in his pockets.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard he then approached the bus stop and started to speak to two women standing nearby.
He then turned round to face the teenagers, and opened his coat.
Miss Ross said one of the girls noticed the zip on his trousers was undone and she could see his red underwear.
She said he then walked away from the youngsters, before he turned to face them again and exposed his private parts.
The court heard the girl informed her friends, who also saw what he was doing.
Miss Ross said Dawson continued to flash them until their bus arrived.
She said another woman who was getting off at the stop noticed what he was doing and threatened to call the police.
The girls told their parents when they got home, and the incident was reported.
When Dawson was arrested, he immediately admitted what he had done.
Miss Ross said: “During the course of his interview he accepted that it was him who was in Stonehaven and that he did see three teenage girls. He said he did expose himself because he gets a buzz out of it and said that was why he attended counselling.
“He confirmed his underpants were red and said he just stood and pretended he was waiting for a bus and was turning in different directions.”
In July last year, Dawson was chased down an Aberdeen street and caught by one of his young victims’ parents after he targeted their son.
Dawson had deliberately exposed himself to the boy while in the city. But after the child told his dad what had happened, he gave chase and pinned Dawson to the ground, holding him there until the police came. The chase was caught on a witnesses’ mobile phone camera.
At the time the court heard he had acted that way to “get a thrill out of it”.
Yesterday Miss Ross asked Sheriff Alison Stirling to consider imposing a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) on Dawson due to the “high risk” of him offending again.
She said the Crown was concerned that he had started to travel out of Aberdeen to offend, as he was aware he was known in the city.
She also said there was a “degree of premeditation” in his crimes as he deliberately chooses to wear red pants in order to attract children’s attention to his groin area.
Miss Ross asked that Dawson be banned from all recreational areas where it would be reasonable to expect there would be children present.
However Sheriff Stirling refused this, and said the requirements proposed by the Crown were too wide.
Representing the repeat offender, solicitor Keidra Morrison said there had been a 15-year gap in his offending until he started exposing himself again last year.
She said that until that time his life had been stable, and that he had held down the same job for 21 years while living at home with his mother. She said he also played drums in a band at night.
However she said Dawson started to “spiral out of control” when his mum and two band members died suddenly and he lost his full-time job.
She said as a result of the turmoil he started to offend again.
Sheriff Stirling placed Dawson, who had been remanded in HMP Grampian, on a three-year supervision order. She also instructed him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work as part of community payback order.
He will be on the sex offenders’ register throughout the course of his supervision.
