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A man who carried out a sex act in a public toilet while staring at a young boy has been placed on the sex offenders register.



John Main - who is blind and is missing his left leg - was spotted pleasuring himself by the disgusted schoolboy at a garden centre loo in Midlothian last year.



The lad was said to have been left “anxious and shaking” after witnessing 65-year-old Main touching his genitals while standing in the cubicle.



He said the 13-year-old boy had been mistaken and claimed he had been drying his prosthetic leg because “it gets sweaty” after walking for too long.



Main denied the allegation and stood trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier this year where he was eventually found guilty of intentionally exposing himself at Dobbie’s Garden Centre, near Lasswade, on June 3 last year.

He was also found guilty of a second similar offence where he was found to have exposed himself to a 15-year-old boy at public toilets at the capital’s Cramond harbour on April 30, 2016.



Main, who had vision in one eye at the time of the offences, was placed on the sex offenders register and on a supervision order for two years when he was sentenced today (12 November).



Sheriff Kenneth Maciver said: “You remain in denial in respect of these crimes. But the witnesses were highly credible and I had no hesitation in accepting their evidence.”



Main, from Crewe Toll, Edinburgh, is the son of tragic grandmother Sheila Whitehead who fell to her death at the Nazareth House care home in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, in May 2017.

(Image: Supplied)

Mrs Whitehead, 87, died after she fell down a flight of stairs at the facility after stumbling past a red rope which was supposed to hold residents back.



Care home workers found the OAP lying in a foetal position with blood pouring from a head wound. She died from her injuries in hospital later that evening.



Nazareth Care Charitable Trust admitted health and safety violations and was fined £40,000 at the capital’s sheriff court as punishment earlier this month.



During Main’s trial the court heard from the 13-year-old victim who said he had attended Dobbie’s garden centre with his parents and visited the public toilet on his own.

The boy, now 14, said: “I saw him looking at me in the mirror. He looked at me for about ten seconds while I was washing my hands.



“He then went into the cubicle next to the exit. He hadn’t locked the door and it was ajar.



“I saw him looking at me through the gap in the door. I turned around and he opened the door and I saw him masturbating.



“I was too scared to leave to leave the bathroom so I waited until another person was leaving and I followed them.”



The boy’s mum told the court her son came running towards her after he had been at the toilet during last June’s incident.



The woman, 53, said: “As soon as I saw him coming towards me I knew something was wrong. He was really pale and looked anxious and as we got closer I saw he was shaking.”



Main told the court last year’s incident at the garden centre had been a misunderstanding and he had gone to the toilet to dry off his false leg.





Main said: “My leg was quite loose and it gets sweaty if I walk about for a while. I did take my trousers down to dry my leg.



“After I’d done a pee I came out and washed my hands. I saw a young boy come out of a cubicle and wash his hands. I did glance up at him but I wasn’t staring at him.



“I went back into the cubicle to dry them and the door was not locked. I decided to fix my leg and try and dry it up a bit.”



The court also heard from a man, now 18, who said he was a working near to Cramond harbour when he was 15-years-old when he had to visit the public toilets nearby on April 30, 2016.



The man said he saw Main “standing behind me playing with himself” while in a toilet cubicle.



Main was found guilty of intentionally engaging in sexual activity by staring at a 15-year-old boy, exposing his genitals and masturbating in the presence of the boy at public toilets at Cramond foreshore, Edinburgh, on April 30, 2016.



Main was also found guilty of a similar offence at Dobbie’s Garden Centre, Lasswade, Midlothian, on June 3 last year.

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