Sergeant cleared of sex assault

A police officer has been acquitted of sexually assaulting a schoolboy and an adult male at a wedding in Fife.

A sheriff accepted the evidence of the teenager that Craig Heron had groped him and grabbed his private parts at the reception. However, he rejected the claims of the second alleged victim and the case involving the boy failed because of lack of collaboration.

Heron, 34, a police sergeant from Falkirk, was cleared after a five-day trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

The allegations followed a wedding reception which took place at Balgownie Smithy, Culross, on June 17 last year. Heron had been accused of sexually assaulting the boy and a man in his 20s. Sheriff Charles MacNair said of the schoolboy’s evidence: “I’m satisfied that he was telling the truth about this allegation.” However, the sheriff did not accept the evidence of the second complainer, saying it was “inconceivable” that he would have been posing for photos with the accused after the alleged sexual assault took place.

Heron told the court both accusers had been telling lies.

In the case of the boy, he said: “Alcohol may have been a factor.”

Heron’s wife, Jemma, 32, was also at the wedding. She said the first she knew of any allegations were when she told her husband their lift home had arrived and he said he had to go with the police.

The trial took several months to complete and was subject to reporting restrictions until the verdict.