Photographer accused of sex offences involving 12 women denies photoshoots were for ‘sexual thrill’

A professional photographer on trial over alleged sexual offences involving 12 women has denied doing anything untoward when he worked with them.

Simon ‘Sid’ Scott is accused of a string of sexual assaults and indecent behaviour, many of which were alleged to have taken place at photo shoots.

Giving evidence at the start of the defence’s case, the former photographer insisted the photoshoots were not a pretence for him to get a “sexual thrill”.

The police investigation into Scott’s alleged crimes involved cybercrime officers sifting through hundreds of thousands of his photographs, with 150,000 deemed to contain eroticism or nudity.

As the trial continued into its eighth day at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, the 44-year-old was acquitted on one charge of sending messages to a 13-year-old girl and asking about her sexual experience.

Sheriff Morag McLaughlin deemed there to be insufficient evidence to constitute criminal behaviour.

Following this fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar officially closed the Crown case.

Scott, of Sunnyside Road, Aberdeen, denies the remaining 12 charges against him.

Accused claims he never met accuser

Giving evidence on his own behalf, Scott told the jury he had never even met a woman who was accusing him of sexually assaulting her while she slept.

The woman told the court yesterday that after staying at Scott’s home, she woke to find him lying on top of her and groping her private parts.

Scott told defence advocate David Taylor: “None of these events happened. They weren’t familiar at all.”

“If she suffered a sexual assault, was it anything to do with you?” Mr Taylor asked Scott.

“Not to my knowledge,” he replied.

Scott also denied sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl while carrying out a “test shoot” in Queens Park in Glasgow in 2015.

The woman – now a solicitor – claimed Scott requested that she pull down a leotard she was wearing to improve the quality of the photographs before approaching her and touching her breast.

She also alleged Scott brushed raindrops off her naked skin.

Mr Taylor asked Scott whether he instructed the teenager to remove her bra during the photoshoot.

“I didn’t instruct that at any point,” he said.

Asked whether he exposed her breasts, Scott said “not in the way she described”, adding “I do not recall her ever being completely topless in that way.”

Denies shoots were sexually motivated

Scott also denied he touched the girl’s naked breast, but did concede he “maybe brushed the top of her breast” when pushing rainwater off her skin.

In relation to accusations involving a third woman, who claimed Scott invited her to a forest and photographed her topless, he claimed he “was not aware” that he touched her while he “smoothed down her hair” during the shoot.

Mr Taylor asked his client: “Was any of what you did sexually motivated or were you pretending you were having a photoshoot to get some sexual thrill?”

“Definitely not,” Scott replied. “It was all to get the best photos for the shoot.”

The trial, before Sheriff Morag McLaughlin, continues.

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