SERIAL SHOP SEX PEST DODGES JAIL
Sleazebag boss carried out vile attacks on female colleagues
A PERVERT shop boss has avoided jail for committing sex attacks on five female colleagues.
Andrew Docherty, 29, was sentenced yesterday for sexually assaulting three staff members in a Home Bargains branch and two others in a Morrisons and a Farmfoods.
A judge placed him on supervision for three years and ordered him to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard Docherty now works for supermarket chain Aldi but faces being sacked.
He had been accused of assault with intent to rape two other women in Home Bargains, where he was assistant manager, but those charges were not proven.
The trial heard Docherty admitted groping a female worker there but claimed it was just “mucking about”. Interviewed by an area manager following a complaint of sexual harassment, he admitted touching the woman’s breasts on different occasions.
Docherty, from St Andrews, was fired after an investigation.
Defence lawyer Drew McKenzie said his client had not been convicted of the “serious charges” which had resulted in the case being brought before the High Court.
He said his client’s convictions “would be characterised as inappropriate touching”.
Judge Lord Malcolm told Docherty: “You faced 18 charges. In the end, you were acquitted of the majority of those, including those of rape and assault with intent to rape.
“That said, the charges you were convicted of are serious and span a lengthy period of time.
“Of those charges, many of them were sexual assaults on victims while you were their line manager.”
Docherty’s sentence included an order to attend a rehabilitation course for sex offenders.
He was convicted last month of sex assaults on two workers at Home Bargains.
On both occasions, he grabbed the victim’s head and pushed it towards his genitals.
The dad of one was also convicted of sexually assaulting an employee by putting his hand inside her clothes.
The jury convicted him of a further attack at Morrisons, in which he made sexual comments to a woman worker and slapped her bottom.
He also sexually assaulted a Farmfoods worker by putting his hands inside her clothing, pulling her bra strap and once unfastened her bra.
The offences occurred between 2007 and 2015.