A couple have been cleared of carrying out a sex act on a shopping centre escalator.

Gareth Taylor and his partner Sanita Salan were both charged with committing public indecency after they fell in the branch of Boots.

The couple lost their balance and landed on the steps as they travelled up to the chemist on the first floor of the shop in the Bon Accord Centre in Aberdeen.

But they found themselves in court - and claim they were banned from the shopping mall - after they were accused of engaging in a sex act as they travelled up the escalator on August 27 last year.

However, they were cleared when they appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for their trial on Wednesday.

Prosecutor Karen Dow said she was withdrawing the charge against them after the first witness, a make-up specialist employed by Boots, gave evidence and told the court that she did not see anything untoward.

Witness Gemma Buchan, 27, said she saw the couple lying on the escalator as she headed to the staff room at the end of her shift.

She told the court she heard a bang and could see Mr Taylor, 46, pulling up his jeans after he fell but stated they were only a couple of inches below his waist when he adjusted them.

She said: "I remember when I watched on the escalator, he was like, 'I don't have boxers on', or something.

"Their heads were at the bottom of the escalator, that's what made me think they had fallen.

"I saw him pull up his trousers, he was covering himself, covering his private parts."

Ms Dow asked the shop worker if she formed an opinion about what had happened in the store.

She replied: "I don't think there was anything happening when they were down on the escalator."

Following the hearing, Mr Taylor hit out and explained his trousers had got caught in one of the steps as they were travelling up to the chemist.

Mr Taylor said: "We fell on the escalator and my trousers got caught on the step on the way up.

"One of the witnesses made out they saw something they didn't. We were told by the police that they accused us of being engaged in some kind of sex act.

"It shouldn't have gone this far. I'm not happy about it."

Mr Taylor, of Aberdeen, said he was disappointed to find out that CCTV cameras based on the top floor of the shop were not turned on at the time stressing that footage would have proved their innocence.

Ms Salan, 42, said the couple, who have been in a relationship for a year, had been out for a few drinks and had popped into a shop shortly beforehand to buy some food and flowers.

She said they were heading to the chemist on the upper level of the store when the accident happened.

Ms Salan, who was emotional after the hearing, said she was shocked to find out that someone had reported the incident.

She said: "It's not even conceivable. It has all been so overbearing - the whole thing."