Edinburgh pensioner who spied on a woman in a McDonald’s toilet placed on Sex Offenders Register

David Levenson, 71, pleaded guilty to a charge of observing a woman while she was in a state of undress

A pensioner who spied on a woman while she used the toilet at an Edinburgh fast food restaurant has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register.

David Levenson, 71, peered over a cubicle partition at the horrified victim as she used the facilities at the McDonald’s takeaway in the capital’s city centre last year.

The woman shouted at the OAP and challenged him before he made his way out of the toilet and fled the scene.

David Levenson outside the Edinburgh Sheriff Court

The police were contacted and following a public appeal to catch the offender Levenson subsequently handed himself into his local station and admitted what he had done.

Levenson, from Canonmills, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to a charge of observing the woman while she was in a state of undress at the takeaway toilet when he appeared at the capital’s sheriff court last month.

Defence agent Kirsty Harper told the court Levenson now “accepts responsibility” for the offence and he currently suffers from “mobility issues” that may stop him from carrying out unpaid work.

He returned to the dock for sentencing on Tuesday, April 16 where Sheriff Gillian Sharp placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 12 months and ordered him to carry out 135 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Last month the court heard the victim and her young niece attended at the McDonald’s and entered the female toilet at around 11am on August 14 last year.

Fiscal depute Peter Finnon said: “The complainer used the toilet while her niece stood and while in a partial state of undress she looked up and saw Mr Levenson looking over the cubicle clearly watching her.

“Alarmed by his presence she immediately challenged him causing him to duck into the cubicle he was in, in an apparent attempt to conceal himself.”

The court heard the woman then confronted Levenson by banging on his cubicle door but he had “remained silent and did not acknowledge the complainer”.

The pensioner eventually left the cubicle and told the woman “I was just doing the toilet”.

The fiscal added: “The complainer then pursued Mr Levenson to the Waverley Steps but he was lost to sight.”

The court heard Levenson then handed himself into the city’s St Leonard’s police station three weeks later following a public appeal.

The shamed OAP wore a mask to hide his face as he scurried away from the court building following his guilty plea.

Levenson pleaded guilty to observing a woman doing a private act while she was in a state of partial undress within a toilet cubicle at McDonald’s, Waverley Mall, Edinburgh, on August 14 last year.

He also had a not guilty plea accepted by the Crown to a similar offence at the same location on September 25, 2021.