A sex offender who repeatedly exposed himself to a woman had his full sentence restored after the Crown challenged a decision of appeal sheriffs.
Ricky Taylor, 26, was originally found guilty of exposing himself and carrying out a sex act at windows at an address in Aberdeen on various occasions over a month-long period in 2017.
After he appealed to the Sheriff Appeal Court in Edinburgh they limited his conviction to a single incident on November 16 that year and imposed a reduced sentence.
Taylor was originally ordered to carry out 300 hours unpaid work and to attend a course. He was also placed under a restriction of liberty order and put on the sex offenders’ register for three years.
The appeal sheriffs reduced the amount of unpaid work in the community to 150 hours and cut the length of the home curfew order.
They ruled the case involved a series of incidents but only one was corroborated and following previous legal authority two sources of evidence were required to prove each distinct episode included in a single, composite charge.
The woman spoke of four separate occasions of seeing Taylor expose himself. On the first he was completely naked and right up at a bedroom window.
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During the second he tapped on his window to get her attention and made a whistling sound.
In the third incident she heard tapping again and a whistling sound and saw him naked from the waist down. In the final incident he carried out a sex act on himself, but on that occasion, the woman’s partner also saw him and they agreed to contact police.
Following the ruling by the Sheriff Appeal Court last year, the Crown challenged the decision at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh before three senior judges.
Advocate depute Steven Borthwick argued that the appeal sheriffs erred in deciding there was insufficient evidence to corroborate the full original charge
He maintained the woman’s evidence on the first three incidents could be corroborated by her partner’s testimony over the fourth.
Lord Glennie, who gave the appeal judges’ decision, said the partner’s evidence over the last incident was sufficient.
He said: “We shall allow the appeal against the decision of the Sheriff Appeal Court and restore the decision of the sheriff in Aberdeen.”
Defence solicitor advocate Ann Ogg said Taylor was staying with friends in Stonehaven, had secured employment and was “showing insight and progressing well”.
Lord Menzies said Taylor was subject to a restriction of liberty order for four months and they would not re-impose such an order on him.
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