The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
OAP branded ‘dirty old man’ for fondling himself in public
Pensioner fined £600 after being found guilty of indecency offences in front of Kirkcaldy neighbours
A pensioner who fondled himself at the back door of his Kirkcaldy home in front of his horrified neighbours has been branded a “dirty old man”.
William Wallace Mccurley was yesterday found guilty of two public indecency offences after a trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
The 66-year-old repeatedly touched his private parts while wearing only a dressing gown at his former home on Balsusney Road in the town.
Retired nurse Gillian Campbell told the court that she witnessed Mccurley’s crude acts “two or three times a week” over a course of several months.
The 63-year-old said she felt forced to hang a pillowcase slip over the window of her kitchen as she believed the pensioner, a former sales manager, was looking into her property.
She said: “I always wear a hat outside and not inside but he knew what the colour of my hair was and the only way he would know that was by seeing me in the kitchen.
“He told me what lovely hair I had.” Mrs Campbell added that she often saw Mccurley standing at the door wearing a “grey dressing gown and slippers” with his hands “moving up and down in front of his genitalia”.
She explained that while she didn’t say anything to Mccurley about his behaviour at the beginning, she later told him to “keep his kitchen door shut”.
Another witness, Scott Marshall, 27, told the court he saw his downstairs neighbour exposing himself for around 10 seconds while leaving his property on April 26 2017.
Mccurley was found guilty of repeatedly touching and moving his hands back and forth over his genital area underneath his clothing between August 1 2016 and May 2 2017.
He was also convicted of committing an act of public indecency by exposing and touching his private parts whilst standing at the back door.
Defence solicitor Alan Jackson said the prosecution had had a “very profound effect” on his client who he said was in “very poor health”.
He added that the pensioner had now moved well away from the area to Perthshire and that he was not the sort of man who he expected to see back in front of the courts again.
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist QC said: “I’m quite satisfied from the evidence that there is a course of conduct in the handling of the accused’s private parts where he could be seen in principle by his neighbour but also by anyone else walking past.
“I find you guilty on both charges as libelled.
“You were perfectly aware that you should not have been standing at your back door fondling your genitals for members of the public to see.
“In times gone by, your behaviour would have been described as that of a dirty, old man and you should ashamed of yourself.”
Mccurley was fined a total of £600 for both charges.