Fife sex pest (76) targeted female dog walkers
A 76-year-old sex pest, who preyed on women out walking their dogs in Fife, has been found guilty of offences against three victims.
Ronald Leyman committed one of the crimes in a supermarket against a woman he had previously seen walking her dog.
Leyman shocked the shopper by saying he wanted sex with her. In another incident he sexually assaulted a woman as she walked her dog in a secluded country area.
In his trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, Leyman made bizarre claims that two of the women, aged in their 30s and 40s, had repeatedly made sexual gestures to him for years, any time they saw him.
Leyman, of Robert Smith Court, Lumphinnans, was found guilty of three charges.
On 2nd July 2012 at Asda, Halbeath Retail Park, he sexually assaulted a woman by directing a sexual verbal communication at her, made sexualised comments to her and asked her for sexual intercourse.
Between 1st and 21st August last year at Robert Smith Court he sexually assaulted a second woman by repeatedly thrusting his genital area towards her head and made a sexual comment to her by asking her to pat him.
He acted in this way when they woman patted his dog.
On 21st August at Lumphinnans Road, Lochgelly, he sexually assaulted a third woman by touching her waist and buttocks, made a sexual verbal communication to her and made a suggestive sexual comment to her.
The trial heard that Leyman would regularly pester women as they walked their dogs in the Lumphinnans area, repeatedly giving them unwanted attention.
The victim in the Asda incident said she was shopping in the store at lunchtime when she saw Leyman, who had spoken to her in the past when she was walking her dog.
She said Leyman walked up to her and muttered, “I’d like to s*** you.”
“I said in a loud voice, ‘Get away from me’.
“I was shocked and quite upset. Another woman came up and asked if I was okay.”
The woman in the most recent incident said she was out walking her dog on a farm track when Leyman approached her.
“He tried to put his arms around me. I pushed him away and that’s when he put his hand on my bottom. I pushed him away again. He said, ‘I can’t help myself’.”
The woman said she picked up her dog, ran home and phoned her husband.
She said she was “very scared, very upset”.
Another woman told the court that she had patted Leyman’s dog when he thrust his groin forward saying, “Can I have a pat too?”
Leyman admitted in court that he had said to the woman in Asda, “How’s about a f***?”
Asked why thought it was appropriate to say that, Leyman replied, “I was joking”.
Leyman also made claims that two of the women had been making sexual gestures to him for many years.
He claimed that the women would look up to his window as he washed his dishes and made gestures to him suggesting they wanted sex with him.
Sheriff Charles MacNair described Leyman’s evidence as “quite incredible” and found him guilty of all three charges.
He called for reports and Leyman will be sentenced on 18th July. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register.
