A 25-stone sex offender who scared a shop worker by standing staring at her for 40 minutes has been placed on a curfew for 15 weeks. Creepy Gordon Simpson claimed he was building up the courage to ask for a date but admitted he caused fear or distress by stalking her.
Simpson - who appeared by video link yesterday because he is too large to fit in a prison escort van - was placed under social work supervision for two years. He was also banned from forming any new relationship without informing social workers, and ordered to stay away from the shop assistant he stalked.
Sheriff Francis Gill said: "You have pled guilty to an offence of stalking, which the court takes very seriously. You have clearly caused the complainer a great deal of fear and distress."
Solicitor Linda Clark, defending, said the shop worker was simply being professional, but her friendly nature meant Simpson picked up the wrong signals from her. The court previously heard how Simpson has "mobility issues" and is too large to be brought on the hour-long drive from Glasgow to Perth in a compact cell in a prison transport van.
Simpson, 33, from Perth, admitted stalking Rebecca Duncan by repeatedly entering her place of work between April 12 and 22 this year. He admitted causing fear or alarm at Zeus Juice in Perth High Street by trying to engage her in conversation, staring at her, and uttering alarming remarks.
Simpson would stand in the shop and stare for up to 40 minutes at a time and his conduct was so alarming that staff kept a record of every visit he made. In 2018, Simpson was jailed after being caught with child abuse images - and blamed his weight for his interest in the illicit material.
He claimed he had developed an interest in child pornography because his weight meant he was socially isolated and had a poor self-image. Simpson was jailed for eight months after he admitted breaking the terms of a strict Sexual Offences Prevention Order by secretly using a laptop.
He had earlier been jailed for 33 months for having child porn, and claimed he put on nearly two stone per month while being remanded in Perth Prison. He was then jailed for a further five months for ignoring a ban on using the internet to purchase sex toys online. That was another breach of his SOPO.
The morbidly obese sex offender previously told social workers that "the victims of his offence did not cross his mind." He is already on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Solicitor Mike Tavendale, defending, said in an earlier hearing: "He is a man with certain self-image problems. He is morbidly obese and in his time in custody has added some 50 kilos to his weight. Because of his size his self-image is very poor and as a result of that he has become very socially isolated within the home."
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