A Western Isles driving instructor has been jailed for seven months for performing a solo sex act while giving schoolgirls lessons.

Iain Munro, of Lewis, was found guilty of six counts of behaving in a sexually-related threatening or abusive manner and another charge of a sexual breach of the peace.

Stornoway Sheriff Court heard the offences occurred over eight years while he worked as an instructor n Lewis.

The trial was told the victims carried on driving and never said a word to him. One witness told the trial she was afraid to tell Munro to stop as "it was scary - he could have got angry and locked the car".

Some booked further lessons and passed their test. Others said they did not see the actual sex act but heard "noises".

Sheriff David Sutherland placed Munro, 55, on the sex offenders register when he was sentenced on Friday.

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, which Munro tried to hide with sheets of paper on his lap.

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."

Sheriff Sutherland stressed he could not see any other option but prison.

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."

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