School bus driver watched porn while picking up pupils

David Robe watched pornography on his phone while picking up and dropping off pupils

A school bus driver has been found guilty of watching pornography on his phone while picking up and dropping off pupils in the Scottish Borders.

David Robe, 55, of Ashington, Northumberland, had denied committing a breach of the peace by viewing the pornographic images of naked women on his mobile phone during the course of his employment and in the vicinity of children.

The offence happened on private-hire school bus runs between the village of Denholm and Jedburgh Grammar Campus between 1 May and 20 September last year.

Sentence was deferred at Jedburgh Sheriff Court until next month.

One former pupil told a trial he regularly witnessed Robe looking at porn on his phone while getting on and off the bus.

He said: "If it was busy it would take quite a few seconds in the queue and you could look over the chair and see him looking at his phone.

"There were images of naked women and a video of people participating in sexual intercourse.

"It was clear he was looking at something inappropriate."

The teenager said the matter came to light when the police came into the school in relation to another unconnected incident on the bus and he reported Robe's actions to the officer.

Another pupil told the court that she also saw him looking at "inappropriate" images on his phone and expressed concern that he was doing it with so many young children aged between 11 and 18 on the bus.

Robe was found guilty at Jedburgh Sheriff Court

She said: "Most times the women were fully naked.

"There were pictures of them in inappropriate angles and positions and wearing nothing.

"It was mostly every day. But in the end I would not look as I knew what was happening."

Robe declined to give evidence.

Prosecutor India MacLean said she was satisfied Robe had committed a breach of the peace due to the concern about his behaviour in front of children.

She described his behaviour as "reckless" at best but accepted he had not shown the images deliberately to the children or gained any gratification from that.

Defence lawyer Ed Hulme said Robe - who has no previous convictions - had only been reported by chance when police visited the school on an unconnected matter.

He argued that the behaviour had not caused genuine alarm or distress on the private hire bus and that it had fallen short of a common breach of the peace offence.

Mr Hulme claimed there was not a significant sexual element to the case which would require his name being placed on the sex offenders register.

However, on finding Robe guilty of a breach of the peace, Sheriff Kevin McCarron said: "My initial view is that there is a significant sexual element to this crime.

"I take the view this offence passes the custody threshold."