A Western Isles driving instructor has been jailed for seven months for touching himself sexually while giving women, mostly teenage girls, driving lessons.
Munro, of Newmarket, Lewis, was previously found guilty of six counts of behaving in a sexually related threatening or abusive manner which caused the females fear or alarm.
He was also convicted of one charge of a sexual breach of the peace.
A trial at Stornoway Sheriff Court heard offences occurred while the women were steering his Ford Focus car during lessons along the Bràighe roadway, by Parkend and in the Point area in Lewis.
Many younger victims carried on driving and never said a word to him. Some booked further lessons and passed their test. Others said they didn’t see the actual sex act but heard the noise.
Sheriff David Sutherland imprisoned Munro for seven months when he was sentenced
on Friday. The 55-
Defence solicitor Ellen Macdonald urged the sheriff to impose an alternative to prison, saying he was a first offender and at low risk of repeating the offence.
She said there was no contact with the women during the incidents.
Ms Macdonald added: “The harm to the victims has to be balanced by the fact some of the victims continued to take driving lessons with him.”
But Sheriff Sutherland stressed he could not see any other option but jail.
He told Munro: “These are very serious offences, many of them committed against young girls starting out on adult life.
“I take into account you have not been in trouble before but offences of this nature must run the likelihood of custodial sentences.
“What we have here is a catalogue of offences committed over an eight year period.”
The sheriff previously said the lack of life experiences of the teenagers -
At the trial, solicitor Ellen Macdonald had maintained many of the girls were the same age in school and only made allegations when the island “jungle drums” spread the talk of Munro’s arrest on one allegation.
One learner driver previously told the court she was driving Munro’s’ silver-
The woman said she was “shocked” but didn’t say anything to him.
She was “shaking and burst out crying” after he dropped her off at the end of the lesson.
Lawyer, Ellen Macdonald queried why she didn’t stop the car or call for help, particularly when they reached a housing scheme.
The witness said she phoned police later the same day.
Another woman said she could hear his alleged actions “though his jacket” when Munro was “thrusting back and forth,” on three different days when she took lessons as a school pupil.
She told the lawyer she didn’t tell Munro to stop as “it was scary. He could have got angry and locked the car.”
The teenager said she booked many more lessons from Munro as her test was coming up, despite other instructors being available on the island.
The teenager agreed with Ms Macdonald that Munro “fidgets and coughs and splutters a lot, and usually has his hands down his lap.
The lawyer told the court, the driving instructor often tugs on his trousers and has sheets of paper on his lap when assessing learners.
In the witness box, another young woman said she heard movement out of the corner of her eye while on a driving lesson.
She told the court: “I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. I was frozen. My mouth was dry and I couldn’t swallow.”
She added: “Life does not prepare you for this when you are 17.”
Iain Munro told the trial the women had control of the vehicle, could have stopped and got out.
He said they were “just jumping on the bandwagon” after listening to the Stornoway “jungle drums” gossip while some of the women had recommended him to friends.
Driving instructor sentenced over sex offences during lessons
22 April 2016