Edinburgh Crime: Bus creep who touched 'frightened' woman's buttocks ordered to pay compensation

A sleazy creep who sexually assaulted a woman on an Edinburgh bus has been ordered to pay his victim compensation.

Thomas McLean sat down beside the woman making her “feel uncomfortable” before touching her on the buttocks as she stood up to get off.

The victim was left “frightened” by the incident and decided to report the assault to the police when she got home.

Police launched a hunt for the attacker and 60-year-old McLean was soon identified and arrested.

He later told officers he had no recollection of touching the woman.

McLean had earlier pleaded guilty to the sexual assault when he appeared in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and he returned for sentencing on Friday.

Prosecutor Oliver Davidson-Richards told the court the woman got on the number 3 Lothian bus at the capital’s Princes Street at around 1.45pm on September 23, 2019.

The fiscal said she went to the upper deck of the vehicle and sat down at a window seat with McLean getting on a few minutes later and sitting beside her.

Thomas McLean sat down beside the woman making her “feel uncomfortable” before touching her on the buttocks as she stood up to get off. Image pixelated for legal reasons.

The victim got up to get off the bus in the Newington area of the city and as “she eased passed him she felt his hand on her buttocks”.

The shocked woman was said to have phoned the police to report the assault later that day.

Defence agent Ruairidh Mulheron said his client “doesn’t remember too much” of what happened on the bus but “accepts the conduct” and is “ashamed of his behaviour”.

Sheriff Chris Dickson said: “This was a frightening experience for the complainer. But I do accept it was a moment of madness”.

The sheriff ordered McLean, of Dumbryden, Edinburgh, to pay the woman £400 in compensation and placed him on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.

McLean pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a woman by touching her buttocks while travelling on a bus between Princes Street and Newington Road on September 23, 2019.