Heriot-Watt professor 'told student to take off trousers as punishment' trial hears

A university lecturer told a student to take off his trousers on a Skype video call as “punishment” for not working hard enough, a trial heard yesterday.

Professor Kevin O’Gorman is accused of watching at his computer as the male student removed the clothing.

The student, now 24, said he stood in the corner of his room and told O’Gorman, who lectured at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, that he “felt like a child”.

He said O’Gorman replied: “If you act or behave like a child, you’ll be treated like a child.”

Giving evidence, the student told Edinburgh Sheriff Court that he’d often sought advice from O’Gorman after struggling with his studies.

Professor 'whipped student with belt in exchange for place at uni' court hears  

O’Gorman, 45, is accused of targeting 16 males, allegedly inappropriately touching some students and making inappropriate sexual remarks, in incidents between 2006 and 2017.

The trial previously heard the accused took his belt off and whipped one teenage student in exchange for getting the lad into university while lecturing at Strathclyde University.

The witness giving evidence yesterday told how he felt “pressured” to strip as O’Gorman had asked. He feared refusing might “end my chances of continuing with my exams”.

He said O’Gorman asked him to turn on his computer’s camera and “angle” the laptop so the student could be seen doing this “punishment”.

The lecturer didn’t have video enabled on his own computer and only his voice could be heard.

The student, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, said: “I stood there for under five minutes. We were talking about the situation, the punishment.

"He asked me how it felt and I said I felt like a child.” He said the experience was “belittling”.

Earlier, he told how he met O’Gorman in his university office and the professor put his hand on his leg and slid it up his thigh.

Advocate Niall McCluskey, QC, defending, asked why he would continue seeking O’Gorman’s help if he’d been “touched up” by him.

The student said it was a ”cultural norm” at the uni that O’Gorman could be helpful with student problems but it was known he “might touch your leg”.

O’Gorman, of Milngavie, near Glasgow, denies the charges.

The trial continues.