Highland man jailed for two years after sex act at party

A married father-of-three was jailed for two years yesterday for carrying out a sex act on himself in front of two women at a party in the Highlands.

Forty-nine-year-old Ian Bruce, of Kennedy Road in Fort William, admitted the offences at an address in the town in May three years ago.

At Fort William Sheriff Court, defence lawyer Hamish Melrose said his client was at home when, at about midnight, he was contacted by one of the women and invited to the house for drinks.

He waited until his wife went to bed then accepted the invitation.

The lawyer said: “His marriage is at an end.”

The court heard that Bruce carried out a similar, but not identical, offence on a previous occasion.

Jailing Bruce, Sheriff Bill Taylor said: “There has been a worrying escalation in your offending. Young women have to be protected.”

He was also put on the sex offenders register for ten years.