iStockA police officer sexually assaulted four women on the night he was hailed for being a hero.
David Jones groped his shocked victims while dancing to an ABBA tribute band at the Scottish First Aid awards bash at Glasgow’s Radisson Blu hotel on March 31, 2023.
The women were a firefighter, a swimming instructor, her sister, and a paramedic student.
The married 36-year-old constable – based in Auchterarder in Perthshire – and three colleagues had earlier been recognised for what was described as “heroic acts of bravery”.
They had to deal with a mentally ill, knife wielding man while responding to reports of a gas leak in Edinburgh.
Vital first aid was provided while still managing to evacuate the area from any danger before back-up arrived.
Dad-of-two Jones and his fellow officers collected the event’s Chairperson’s Award for their efforts.
But his six-and-a-half year career is over after he was found guilty following a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
He was found not guilty of a further three sexual assault allegations against a politics student, a lab assistant and an ambulance worker.
Sheriff Andrew McIntyre ordered Jones to do 150 hours of unpaid work and put him under supervision as well as the sex offenders register for one year.
Sheriff McIntyre said: “It seems quite plain that the night in question was a complete aberration of your character.
“You engaged in a course of conduct which was at least reckless and provoked a range of reactions from your victims.
“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.
“I can’t set aside the good work you did in the military and the police.
“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.
“All women should be allowed to socialise without fear or unwanted contact that you perpetrated.
“You don’t fully understand or recognise why your conduct was so wrong that evening.
“They were entitled to enjoy their night without harassment and you took that away from them with your drunken sexual conduct.
“I am satisfied that a community sentence is appropriate.”
The trial heard how revellers partied to an Abba tribute act and a DJ after awards were handed out.
Jones attacked the women while drunk on the dancefloor.
One of the victims, a 23-year-old paramedic student, told the court: “There was a man who just happened to win an award that night who kept trying to dance with me.
“I brushed it off, but he kept following me as if he was thirsty for my attention.
“At first he grinded on me which made me feel uncomfortable.”
The woman claimed that Jones then followed her, grabbed her by the hand then spun her around.
She said: “At first it was over my clothes he tried to grab my breast.”
The witness went on to say Jones put his hand under her dress.
Prosecutor Abbas Ali asked her how it made her feel.
The woman replied: “Dirty.” She told the trial she has been left suffering from PTSD.
The 30-year-old firefighter stated she had been on the dancefloor with colleagues at the celebration.
“I felt a distinctive bump on my back then a grab on my bum,” she said.
The woman described it as a “grope” and a “squeeze”.
The 23-year-old swimming instructor told of an “uncomfortable interaction” with a stranger who groped her breast.
She said: “I told him to get away from me.” The man remained “lingering” near her group – before then pawing at her sister.
The sibling said she was “grabbed more vigorously” leaving her “uncomfortable and intimidated”.
The witness said: “I was disappointed someone would do that at an event where we were there to enjoy as volunteers from charity.”
A security guard told the court that he ejected an “intoxicated” Jones after being spotted encroaching the personal space of others.
Jones stated in his evidence that he “potentially” came into physical contact with the women on the dancefloor.
He told his lawyer Christopher Shaw he would have stopped dancing with them had they refused.
Jones insisted he “did not know why” he had been kicked out the bash at the end of the evening.
He accepted he may have apologised to the one of the women, but that the females were “mistaken by thinking it was something it was not”.
Mr Shaw told the sentencing that his client maintains his innocence.
He said: “Mr Jones is a man with good character and knows his position is now untenable.
“His employment is now over.”
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