A man accused of exposing himself to children at a swimming pool has been cleared of all charges.
Alexander Shepherd had been facing three allegations relating to incidents at Stonehaven Open Air Pool, all of which he denied.
During the final day of the trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court fiscal depute Anne MacDonald said the Crown was no longer seeking a conviction on the charge which claimed Mr Shepherd exposed himself at the pool to children on August 17 last year.
Sheriff Graham Buchanan went on to find Mr Shepherd, of Bedford Road, Aberdeen, not guilty of the remaining two charges.
He had been accused touching himself and handling his genitals above his clothing while in the presence of two young boys on June 26 last year.
The 61-year-old had also been accused of exposing himself to children on August 6 last year.
Sheriff Buchanan told the court as he reached his decision on the first charge that he would disregard the evidence of one of the boys.
He said certain things had the effect of “tainting” his evidence – including a failure by police to carry out the correct procedure when interviewing him.
Sheriff Buchanan said the child had been “trying his best to tell the truth” but added that he had concluded his evidence about what happened on June 26 was “not reliable”.
He went on to say he preferred the evidence of the second boy.
Sheriff Buchanan said his evidence was “both credible and reliable” but did “not support” what was in the charge.
He said: “Given there is no corroborating evidence of the sort of behaviour mentioned in the charge I have reached the conclusion that the appropriate verdict would be one of acquittal.”
He added that as a result there would be an acquittal on the second charge as it would have required mutual corroboration for a conviction.
