Pervert East Lothian scientist gave woman a sex toy after she split with boyfriend

A retired scientist has been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register after he was convicted of giving a young woman a sex toy as a gift.

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James Panton, 61, handed over the item to the woman along with a handwritten note after he found out she had split up from her boyfriend.

The woman, who cannot be identified due to legal reasons, initially believed the device was “a back massager” until a work colleague looked it up on Google.

Sex toy gift: James Panton

She was left stunned after finding out what the item was actually intended for and after speaking to her family the police were called in.

Panton, a retired biochemical scientist, denied an allegation of communicating indecently with the woman and stood trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in August.

The victim told the court Panton regularly visited her workplace and in November 2019 he had handed over bag to her with the device and a note inside

Panton wrote on the envelope that she should open it in her “own personal and private space”.

The woman said she felt it was a “nice gesture” at first and later believed it was a “back massager”.

She told the court that she later showed the device to a colleague who found the same item for sale as a vibrator on the erotic shopping website Lovehoney.

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Panton, of Dunbar, East Lothian, told the court he had heard the woman had broken up with her boyfriend and he “was trying to instil in her self-worth and raise her self-image.”

He bought the item from the Amazon website but denied the gift was aimed at giving him sexual gratification.

The father-of-three said the device could be used to massage “sore muscles” as it advertised but also acknowledged knowing the item could also be used for “sensual purposes”.

Following the evidence Sheriff Adrian Fraser convicted Panton of communicating indecently with the woman by sending a card and package to her place of work which was of an indecent and sexual nature on November 16, 2019.

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Sentence was deferred for reports and Sheriff Fraser sentenced him to a nine month supervision order.

Panton was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for the same duration.

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