An Aberdeen photographer accused of sex offences involving 12 women has this afternoon been found guilty of five of the charges.
Simon ‘Sid’ Scott was on trial accused of a catalogue of sexual assault and indecent behaviour charges involving young teenage models – with many of the claims against him alleged to have taken place during photo shoots.
A large-scale police investigation into Scott’s crimes saw cybercrime officers sift through hundreds of thousands of his photographs, with 150,000 deemed to contain eroticism or nudity.
A jury of nine women and six men took around six hours to find the 44-year-old guilty of five sexual assaults. They returned not proven verdicts on the remaining seven charges.
Scott, of Sunnyside Road, Aberdeen, made no reaction as the verdicts were read out.
Scott’s deferred advocate David Taylor said this is “clearly serious and a custodial disposal may still be at the forefront of the court’s mind”.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin made Scott subject to the sex offenders register and deferred sentence until September 1 in order for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out.
Scott was released on bail.
The trial, which lasted 12 days and saw 13 women give evidence via video link, saw Scott described as a “manipulative”, “opportunistic” and “predatory” sex offender.
However, his defence team contested his innocence and branded the prosecution’s case a “witch hunt”.
The verdict:
The charge of indecently assaulting a then 18-year-old woman in 2008 as she slept in his bed at a flat on George Street, Aberdeen, was found: NOT PROVEN
On a 2015 charge of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman during a Christmas Eve photoshoot at City Dance Moves, Aberdeen, Scott was found: GUILTY
A 2015 charge of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl during a photoshoot in a public park in Glasgow, was found: NOT PROVEN
Another 2015 charge that Scott sexually assaulted a 17-year-old model in a wooded area outside Aberdeen, was found: NOT PROVEN
On a sexual assault charge libelled between 2015 to 2016 and alleged to have taken place at the Jurys Inn Hotel in Aberdeen, Scott was found GUILTY of assaulting a 20-year-old woman.
On a charge from December 2015 of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old girl during a photoshoot at the Citizen M Hotel in Glasgow, Scott was found: GUILTY
On a charge from April 2016, Scott was found GUILTY of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman in her home.
A charge alleged to have taken place between September 2016 and February 2017 on the grounds of Aberdeen University and the woman’s home in Garthdee, was found: NOT PROVEN
On charge 10, where it is alleged the photographer sexually assaulted a 17-year-old schoolgirl at Glasgow’s Citizen M Hotel in February 2017, Scott was found: GUILTY
On a charge from October 2017, again at Aberdeen University campus, and involving a 17-year-old dancer, was found: NOT PROVEN
A charge that Scott sexually assaulted a student at Denburn Car Park and an underpass at Mounthooly Roundabout in August 2017, was found: NOT PROVEN
The final charge, from 2018, alleging Scott sexually assaulted an 18-year-old model and actress in her Aberdeen flat, was found: NOT PROVEN
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