A former social worker who sexually assaulted a woman in a church centre has been ordered to pay his victim £500 compensation.
George LeBlanc has also been placed on the sex offenders register for a year after being found guilty of groping the woman on 29 September 2016.
LeBlanc, 63, was found guilty after a trial of sexually assaulting a woman at Bankfoot Church Centre in Perthshire.
LeBlanc has since retired from his former role as a team leader working in education and children's services at Perth and Kinross Council.
He was found guilty of attacking the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, by placing his hand on her leg and moving it towards her thigh.
LeBlanc of Hillend Road, Perth, had a second similar charge relating to an alleged incident in Perth between 1 February and 31 March 2015 found not proven by Sheriff Linda Smith.
Sheriff Smith said: "I have found you guilty of a contravention of the Sexual Offences Act. I have to give notification that you will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register."
LeBlanc admitted he had touched the woman's leg but claimed it was a "joke" which was intended to liven up a boring workshop session.
LeBlanc, who led a specialist childcare team in Perth, accepted he had touched the woman but said it was meant as a practical joke but had fallen flat.
His victim told the court she thought he was "a good team leader in a sense," but "he was quite jovial and he became touchy feely and inappropriate."
The 57-year-old woman: "I didn't dislike him, I just didn't like what he did. We were sat at the table when I felt something brush past my knee.
"I thought: 'No, no it can't be'. I thought maybe I was being over-sensitive. I moved my leg away, but then his hand came over to the top of my thigh.
"I just stood right up and I stared at him. I just wanted to kick his chair or punch him in the face, but I just stood up and left the room. He just stared ahead, as if nothing had happened."
She later confronted LeBlanc alone, inside a sensory room at his base in Woodlea Cottage, a specialist childcare facility run by Perth and Kinross Council.
"I told him: Do not touch me again," she said. "He said to me that he had just misread the signals and said: 'This is just how I get people to relax'.
Sometime later a colleague "mentioned George and laughed about how he used to touch my leg under the table. I just imploded. I was just shocked and felt humiliated.
"It just felt that all this was being thrown back in my face. It was the last straw." The woman was signed off sick for eight months, and eventually left her job, the court heard.
"My head was just buzzing, I couldn't sleep," she said. "I was exhausted."
When questioned by police following his arrest in 2019, LeBlanc admitted he touched the woman's leg but said: "It was just a silly joke".
Giving evidence in his defence, he told the trial that he touched his victim to try and liven up the meeting.
"It was getting near the end of the day, everyone was getting tired. I just tried this silly joke. I didn't get the response I thought I was going to get. It fell flat on its face."
