A high risk sex offender banned from approaching boys or using leisure centres has been jailed for 21 months after he walked into a shower block full of children at an Inverness school.
Scott Murray was banned from entering any swimming pool or leisure centre for 10 years and contacting or communicating with any male child under the age of 16 in 2015.
But Inverness Sheriff Court was told that the 31-year-old, described as an Inverness prisoner, flouted the court order on November 22 to enter showers being used by around two dozen boys on Charleston Community Campus.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson said it was the seventh time that Murray had been convicted of a similar offence.
Sentence was deferred to yesterday for a background report in which Murray tried to change his story.
His lawyer Willie Young said the plea was ‘appropriately tendered’ but that Murray’s position was that his curiosity was aroused by music and he didn’t realise what the building was used for.
He added: “It should have been apparent to him that he shouldn’t have been there.”
The court heard that one of the youths reported Murray’s suspicious activity to a teacher.
Murray was not found, but when police checked CCTV coverage of the facility, they identified the sex offender.
In May 2012, Murray was jailed for 18 months for disobeying a similar court order. He admitted that previous conviction plus a long list of other offences.
Fiscal depute Michelle Molley told Sheriff Margaret Neilson that Murray was arrested shortly after being discovered and had spent 77 days in custody.
The court heard that Murray entered the community centre during school hours.
Ms Molley said: “He entered the physical education department and told a child he was looking for the male changing rooms.
“When he entered them, there were 24 schoolboys changing. He then made his way to the shower facilities and was seen to be ‘peeking’ in before turning around and leaving.
“One pupil was so concerned at his conduct that he alerted a teacher who carried out a search without success. Police were then immediately notified.”
