A pervert driving instructor who sexually assaulted teenagers during lessons in his car has dodged a jail sentence.
Findlay Munro preyed on young women learning to drive in Edinburgh, touching them and making inappropriate comments.
The 62-year-old appeared at the city’s sheriff court on Tuesday after previously admitting four charges.
Munro was given two years supervision with a conduct requirement to undertake “offence-focused work”.
He was also put on the sex offenders register for two years.
Sheriff Adrian Fraser told Munro the charges were “serious” and involved a “breach of trust” towards the pupils he targeted.
But the sheriff said he was taking into account Munro’s “health difficulties” and a report by social workers on how to “address the offending” outside prison.
Sheriff Fraser said he was satisfied there was an “alternative to custody”.
Munro, of the city’s Baberton area, repeatedly targeted four victims while alone in his car with them before a police investigation landed him in court.
A mother previously told the Record how her 17-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted by “scumbag” Munro. She paid for her daughter to receive weekly two-hour lessons from him when he was an instructor through Red Driving School.
She said: “She came back after the first lesson and told me Munro called all his pupils his ‘girlfriends’. I thought it was bizarre, but my daughter said it was fine, she just wanted to pass her test.
“Looking back, she would get really, really anxious before every lesson but I put it down to nerves.
“Then another girl said police were speaking to Munro’s pupils and my daughter said some things had happened to her.
“I got her to write it down, because it was difficult for her. It was awful to read. I was so angry and contacted the police myself to report it.
“Every week Munro made comments about her appearance, saying she was beautiful, sexy and asking why she didn’t have a boyfriend.
“One time she made a driving mistake and he patted her leg then it went further into her leg. She froze and didn’t know what to do.
“Another time he took her mask off and told her she was beautiful and stroked her hair.
“She had about 30 lessons and said something happened every time.
“She wore jogging bottoms and jumpers to lessons, even in hot weather, because she didn’t want to show any skin.”
The mother added: “The police told me he’d been a driving instructor for 11 years and they’re sure these girls can’t have been the only victims.”
Munro pled guilty to sexually assaulting the teen on various occasions on Edinburgh roads between December 2020 and August last year by touching her on the head and rubbing her thigh.
The Crown accepted his not guilty plea over a charge of making comments about her appearance, her mother, and her relationship status for the purposes of sexual gratification, or of humiliating, distressing or alarming her.
Munro admitted making comments about another pupil’s appearance and referring to her in inappropriate terms between September 2017 and October 2019.
He also pled guilty to making comments about a third victim’s appearance and personal relationships on various occasions between August 2020 and August last year.
Munro admitted sexually assaulting a fourth victim on various occasions between February and June last year by touching her on the hand, legs and bottom.
