Man who peeped into window fined £400

After being found guilty of hiding in bushes and looking through his female neighbour’s window, a man posted his opinion of the verdict, and his neighbour, on Facebook.

Martin Scott, 38, of 6 Longsdale Crescent, Oban, had previously been found guilty of placing a female neighbour in a state of fear and alarm on March 27 this year by concealing himself in the undergrowth outside her home, looking in her bedroom and, on being seen, crawling away on his hands a knees.

At his trial, Scott said he was out walking and took a shortcut home. He said: ‘It dawned on me that I was never going to get over the bushes and the fence.

‘I retraced my steps, but I actually fell. I went on my hands and knees to avoid the jaggies.’

Sheriff John Herald found Scott guilty on November 7, and called for reports before sentencing which took place last week at Oban Sheriff Court.

His defence agent said that the report showed Scott was a low risk of reoffending.

But procurator fiscal Eoin McGinty said Scott has posted ‘a long diatribe’ on Facebook after the trial, but quickly took it down again once he learned that police had been informed and were looking to talk to him.

A printed copy was shown to the sheriff. In it Scott said, in crude terms, that his neighbour was lying and ‘the justice system in this country is a ******* joke’.

‘How to win friends and influence people,’ the Sheriff said to Scott and, fining him £400, the sheriff added: ‘Your behaviour is quite disturbing and borders on the sleazy’.