A Perthshire man has been given probation and left free to attend leisure and swimming pools from which he had previously been banned.
While on bail awaiting sentence for looking at a woman under cubicles at Perth Leisure Pool, Paul Stewart was not allowed to enter any leisure centre in the country.
Despite acknowledging Stewart suffers an “obsessive compulsive” urge, the prohibition was lifted when the 38-year-old from Ruthven Park, Auchterarder, was sentenced to probation.
Although he has a previous conviction for a similar offence, Sheriff Robert McCreadie said it was “in the public interest” to send him for treatment rather than imprisoning him.
Stewart pled guilty last month to breaching the peace on November 8 by looking under a partition at a woman as she changed at the Glasgow Road pool.
He had been with a young girl in a cubicle when he bent down to stare through the gap between wall and floor up at his neighbouring swimmer.
Depute fiscal Robbie Brown said, “The complainer… was getting changed.
“She reached down and saw a male face under the cubicle partition.
“It was not clear what state of dress or undress she was in at the time…”CCTV checkedHe added, “She grabbed a towel and went out of the cubicle. As she left, the accused also left.
“She saw him in the company of a young girl and she asked him for some form of explanation but he made no comment.”
Mr Brown said, “She mentioned it to a member of staff and indicated she did not want to take it any further.
“However, the staff at the pool took it seriously and the area was checked with the CCTV system.”
The girl was identified through her pool membership and said Stewart had been with her at the time and had looked into the next cubicle.
“It was clear in the interview it wasn’t an accident,” said Mr Brown.
Stewart had been sentenced to the maximum three years’ probation in 2005 for what was described on Wednesday as an “analogous” offence.’Public interest’Sheriff McCreadie said, “The previous probation order has clearly not dealt with the underlying problem.
“The concern is that if I were to impose a prison sentence he would be out of the community but there would be no further work done on what is a serious problem that he has.”
He added, “The public interest requires some further focus on the obsessive behaviour in an attempt to see if it can, in fact, be eradicated.
“I suspect there is some obsessive compulsive element.”
He sentenced Stewart to three years’ probation with the provisions he attend a community sex offender group work programme and seek psychological counselling if instructed.
He was ordered to carry out 120 hours’ community service and placed on the sex offenders register for three years.
No mention was made of the previous order to stay out of leisure centres and swimming pools.