Former Highland League secretary John Henderson has jail sentence overturned
MORAY pensioner John Henderson, who was imprisoned for indecently assaulting two teenagers, has been released from jail.
Henderson (78), of Bogton Road, Forres, was sent to prison in December for committing indecent assaults between 1979 and 1981, and then again in 2001.
The first offence involved the 78-year-old trying to pull down a teenager's clothing in the football club's changing rooms.
The second occurred in the toilets of the Newmarket Bar on Tolbooth Street after Henderson followed the teenager inside.
Henderson, who was previously club secretary at Forres Mechanics, was detained for interview in 2002 but was not arrested until 2017 when fresh evidence came to the police's attention
At the original hearing at Elgin Sheriff Court, it was argued Henderson should be spared jail due to poor health, having suffered a stroke. However, Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov jailed him for 292 days.
But at the Appeal Court, in Edinburgh, John Henderson’s appeal was sustained, and the sentence of 292 days imprisonment for indecent assault was quashed.
The Appeal Court instead handed Henderson a community payback order of two years with a supervision order and the requirement that he take the Moving Forward, Making Changes course.
Henderson will remain on the Sex Offender's Register for ten years.
The judges who heard the case were Lords Menzies and Turnbull.
