Pervert, 51, asked Edinburgh perfume and fashion shop employees to read out scent names as he ‘grunted and breathed heavily’ during sleazy phone calls

A pervert telephoned perfume and fashion shops and asked female assistants to read out the names of scents they were selling while “grunting and breathing heavily”.

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David William Smith made the sleazy phone calls to three Edinburgh stores and asked stunned employees about perfumes and the underwear they were wearing.

Smith, 51, was heard by the women to be “moaning and sighing” while he spoke to them during the disturbing calls.

David William Smith made the sleazy phone calls to three Edinburgh stores and asked stunned employees about perfumes and the underwear they were wearing.

The warped caller asked one woman to read out the names of the perfumes she stocked while he was said to be “grunting, breathing heavily and whispering ‘keep going’.

Smith, from Newtongrange, Midlothian, appeared in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for sentencing on Wednesday after previously admitting six offences of making sexual comments to sales assistants.

Solicitor Aime Allan, defending, said her client had longstanding “difficulties with alcohol” and had “a limited recollection” of making the sordid phone calls.

Ms Allan added: “He can’t offer any explanation as to why he committed these offences.”

Sheriff Alistair Noble told Smith: “You have pled guilty to a number of offences that are similar in nature which must have been upsetting and alarming to the ladies who received the telephone calls.

“In the circumstances it seems to me that you can be dealt with in a non-custodial way.”

Smith was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years and ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Previously the court was told Smith made several calls to The Perfume Shop at the capital’s Fort Kinnaird retail park and made enquiries to female assistants about the different brands of perfume for sale.

Two female employees were left disgusted after Smith asked them to read out the names of the scents while he made sexual comments towards them during calls between October 1 and December 31, 2019.

Smith then turned his twisted attention to female assistants at the Superdrug store at the city’s Craigleith Retail Park on January 2 and 12 last year.

He made repeated calls to the shop asking two employees about sexy underwear and to read out the names of the perfumes for sale all while he was said to be “grunting and breathing heavily”.

Smith then made phone calls to two female employees at the Outfit fashion outlet at Fort Kinnaird and asked one what she wore under her dress while he was “moaning and sighing”.

He made enquiries to the second woman about the store stocking “a dress as short as possible” and “asked her if she would wear the dress” for him.

The calls to Outfit took place on January 12 and February 13 last year.

Smith pleaded guilty to communicating indecently by making comments of a sexual nature to six women at three separate stores in Edinburgh between October 1, 2019 and February 13 last year.

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