Convicted sex offender cleared of tailing teenage girl, grabbing her hand and asking to kiss her

Andrew Angus, 53, was said to have behaved in a threatening manner to the 16-year-old student on bus journeys as she travelled to Forth Valley College, Falkirk.

It was alleged that he repeatedly approached her, sat next to her on the bus, and repeatedly leant into her, nudged her, asked her where she lived, commented on her appearance, sent her text messages, touched her hair and head, and followed her, as well as taking her hand and asking if he could kiss her.

In pre-recorded evidence, the girl told the High Court in Stirling that Angus had "grabbed" her hand after chatting to her on the bus and at a bus stop, and walked with her to the college campus on Grangemouth Road, Falkirk.

She said she "wasn't happy" with that, and Angus had "seemed reluctant" to let go of her hand as they approached the campus, when she told him that "only students" could go in the grounds.

She said: "He said, 'bye, see you at one'. I don't know why he said that."

Once inside college, the girl went to the student hub, where she was described as "looking scared and frightened", and reported what she said had happened to student support.

Safeguarding officer Emma Brown, 31, said the girl "described what had happened that morning", and said Angus had asked her for a kiss and a hug.

Ms Brown, who called police, said the girl had seemed like "a deer in the headlights".

The girl, said to have "processing issues", also told her mum, and Angus, of Falkirk, was arrested.

The incident occurred on August 25, 2022.

On Wednesday, after a two day trial, a jury, by majority, found the single charge against Angus – of statutory breach of the peace – not proven.

Judge Lord Harrower told Angus, who had been held in custody for the trial, "You are dismissed from the dock". Lord Harrower thanked jurors for their service in what he called "a short but difficult case".

In 2017, Angus was jailed for four years for attacking a 14-year-old girl, pinning her against a wall, and putting his hands on her neck during a sexual assault near Falkirk's Dollar Park.

That attack was in breach of a sexual offences prevention order then in place that banned him at the time from approaching or communicating with females under 18 without the prior consent of an offender management unit.

In 2016, Angus subjected another youngster, who was under the age of 13, to an assault when he groped her in Falkirk's Howgate Centre and also attempted to "chat up" three girls under the age of 12.

That incident saw him placed on supervision for three years, sentenced to 200 hours unpaid work, and ordered attend a sex offenders' treatment programme.

The jury that acquitted him on Wednesday was not told of his previous offending history.