Edinburgh crime: Funeral director Craig Armstrong groped colleague's bottom at funeral parlour, court told

He is also said to have made sexual comments to the alleged victim.

A funeral director sexually assaulted a female co-worker by groping her bottom, a court was told on Tuesday.

Craig Armstrong is claimed to have attacked the woman by touching her buttocks in the kitchen area at a funeral director business in Edinburgh last year. Armstrong is also said to have made sexual comments to the alleged victim by asking if she was late to work because she had been “sh***ing” her partner.

He is also alleged to have made lewd remarks about the “size of her breasts” on several occasions as the pair worked together at the capital funeral parlour. Armstrong, 52, was on trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday accused of charges including sexually assaulting the woman in January last year.

A funeral director sexually assaulted a female co-worker by groping her bottom, Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told.

The funeral manager is also accused of making graphic sexual comments to the woman for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification between October 2021 and January last year.

Crown witness Joyce Cruickshank, a funeral conductor, told the trial Armstrong was a “flamboyant” character who was also “camp and flirtatious” at work. She said she started work at the Edinburgh-based business in August 2021 but soon started to feel victimised by her line manager Armstrong.

Mrs Cruickshank, 52, said she was considering leaving her post until meeting the alleged victim who she described as being “young, enthusiastic and a breath of fresh air”. Mrs Cruickshank said she noticed a change in the woman after Armstrong began making crude comments to her in October 2021.

She told the court she overheard Armstrong comment about “the size of her breasts” and ask the woman “are you late because you were sh***ing?” and “did you sit on [your partner’s] face?”. Mrs Cruickshank also said the funeral boss labelled the woman “a wee slut” and “a wee dirty” in front of other employees at the capital funeral parlour.

She said: “I felt like taking her under my wing in a motherly fashion. I wouldn’t like my daughter to be spoken to like that in a place of work. Honestly, I thought he was a creep.”

The funeral worker said she also witnessed Armstrong sexually assault his co-worker in the kitchen area of the funeral premises. She told the court Armstrong, from Musselburgh, East Lothian, walked up behind the woman during a lunch break and “put his hand on her bottom”. “It wasn’t a slap, it was more of a grab”, she said

She told the court she was “100 per cent” sure he did not slap her behind and spoke to the woman afterwards to confirm what she had seen. The women allegedly told Mrs Cruickshank: “Oh my God, I’m so glad you seen him. He does things like that all the time.”

The court heard Armstrong was then suspended from his position after the incident was reported to the firm’s management in January last year and he was later arrested and charged by police. The summary trial in front of Sheriff Roderick Flynn was part heard due to a lack of court time and adjourned to December.

Armstrong denies an allegation of sexually assaulting a woman by handling and striking her buttocks at the funeral director’s business premises in Edinburgh, on January 13 last year. He also denies intentionally directing sexual communication at the woman without consent by using repeated graphic sexual language when commenting on her private life and repeatedly uttering derogatory remarks to her at the same location between October 1, 2021 and January 13 last year.