Description
A police officer sexually assaulted four women on the night he was hailed a hero at the Scottish First Aid awards.
David Jones, 36, was at the event at Glasgow's Radisson Blu hotel in March 2023 for his role in facing-down a knife-wielding man in Edinburgh.
He was found guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court of groping a firefighter, a swimming instructor, her sister and a paramedic student.
He was given 150 hours of unpaid work. Police Scotland said Jones had been suspended and would face misconduct proceedings.
Jones, who had been an officer for six years, was recognised at the ceremony along with three colleagues for “heroic acts of bravery”.
The officers had faced a mentally-ill man with a knife while responding to reports of a gas leak. They provided first aid and managed to evacuate the area.
Jones, from Auchterarder in Perthshire, collected the event’s Chairperson’s Award with his colleagues.
Sheriff McIntyre told him: "It’s not lost on anyone that you were receiving an award that evening for your vital efforts and first aid.
"You made a considerable contribution to our community. None of that takes away from the obvious distress your conduct caused."
“Your victims were public servants celebrating their success that they were being commended for. You ruined that evening for them."
The trial heard how the award recipients had partied to an ABBA tribute act and DJ after the ceremony.
The 23-year-old paramedic student told the court how Jones made several attempts to dance with her.
She said he tried to grab her breast before putting his hand under her dress. The witness told the trial she had suffered from PTSD since the incident.
The 30-year-old firefighter said she felt a "distinctive bump on my back then a grab on my bum".
The swimming instructor, aged 23, told of an "uncomfortable interaction" with a stranger who groped her breast.
She said: "I told him to get away from me."
But the man remained near her group before he approached her sister.
She said she was "grabbed more vigorously" leaving her "uncomfortable and intimidated".
Jones was later thrown out by security for being drunk and encroaching on the personal space of the women.
He told the trial he "potentially" came into physical contact with them, but said he would have stopped dancing with them had they refused.
The father-of-two claimed he "did not know why" he had been kicked out of the awards.
He accepted he may have apologised to the one of the women, but that they were "mistaken by thinking it was something it was not".
His lawyer Christopher Shaw said his client maintains his innocence.
He added: “Mr Jones is a man with good character and knows his position is now untenable. His employment is now over.”
Ch Supt Helen Harrison, Police Scotland head of professional standards, said that damage is caused to public trust "by the actions of those who do not uphold the standards we expect in policing".
She added: "The officer remains suspended and will be the subject of misconduct proceedings."
Jones was found not guilty of a further three sexual assault allegations.
Sheriff Andrew McIntyre ordered him to do 150 hours of unpaid work, put him under supervision and on the sex offenders' register for one year.