Jail for fishmonger who molested girl

AMoray businessman who used his position to groom a child has been jailed. Former fishmonger William Mackie, 74, molested the 13-year-old girl at the nowclosed Lossie Fish Shop on Culbard Street, Elgin.

He also sexually assaulted a vulnerable young woman.

The attacks took place on dates in 2009-10 and 2016.

Mackie faced Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing, having been convicted of using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour and sexual assault.

During the trial, Mackie’s first victim told a jury that when she was 13 she would visit Mackie’s shop with friends and he would pass her banknotes, despite not having been asked for money.

But when she visited the shop one day hoping for some cash to buy a meal this changed.

“He told me if I wanted money I had to let him kiss my p **** ,” she said.

The witness explained that Mackie then latched the shop door before laying a towel on the floor in the back of the shop and performed a sex act on her.

Asked what Mackie had said to her afterwards she replied: “That I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone.”

The woman eventually reported Mackie to police in 2022.

The second victim, then aged 22, who was described in court as “vulnerable”, said she had gone to Mackie’s shop believing there was a cleaning job.

But when she arrived there was already someone cleaning and she was taken into the office by Mackie and told to “stay quiet”.

She said Mackie, who was 66, targeted her in between serving customers. Despite her pulling away and saying no, he put his hand inside her underwear then, in the back shop, pulled down her trousers before performing a sex act on her, during which she felt “scared”.

Afterwards, Mackie gave her £60.

After discussing what happened with a student adviser at the college where she studied, the woman contacted police a few days later.

During the trial Mackie denied ever having been alone with the first victim, but admitted to kissing the second woman and touching her breasts, saying: “I was flattered, I thought she was coming on to me.”

Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald jailed Mackie, of Cockburn Place, Elgin, for 20 months and placed him on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Speaking after sentencing, the older of Mackie’s victims told The Press and Journal: “Twenty months, that’s nothing compared to what I had to deal with... my mental health took a massive dip. I had to quit college.

“If I could have chosen the sentence I would have put him away for a very long time and thrown away the key.”

LOCKED UP: Businessman William Mackie.