A police officer accused of making sexual gestures and comments to female staff at a rest centre has walked free from court.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said there was no case to answer against James McCallum, 40, c/o Police Scotland, stating that he felt none of the alleged incidents “met the test” of the section of Scots Law facing the officer.
During the trial, Perth Sheriff Court heard how McCallum was recuperating at the Police Treatment Centre in Auchterarder when he made several alleged comments to three women.
One of these allegedly took place in the centre’s gym when a 23-year-old employee was about to use an aerobics bicycle.
The court heard McCallum had tightened the tension on the bike and then allegedly made a comment which was said to have caused embarrassment to the woman and made her feel uncomfortable.
Joe Cahill QC, defending, said he felt the charges against his client were “badly framed” and claimed the Crown had not supplied co-corroborative evidence regarding each alleged incident.
Addressing McCallum, Sheriff Foulis told him that evidence given did not “satisfy the test” of any of the alleged instances and discounted them.
“If the Crown had libelled the charges in a different manner as conveyed in the statutory provisions, you might have found yourself in a stickier situation,” he said.
McCallum had denied that between October 1 and 15 2013, at the treatment centre, Castleton Road, Auchterarder, he made sexual gestures and comments at three women.
He was found not guilty.