A COUNTY massage therapist who groped the breasts of two female clients while treating them for back and neck problems has avoided a jail term.

Gavin Murray, 60, fondled the women while massaging them as they lay on a treatment table at his clinic in Dunbar.

Murray denied assaulting the women by sliding his hand under the towels they were wearing and touching their breasts but was found guilty following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

One victim told the court she felt “violated” by the sex assault on her and was so distressed afterwards that she suffered panic attacks and was forced to take time off work.

The second woman said that she had been left “exposed” during the massage session where Murray had “stopped just short of touching my nipples”.

READ MORE: Dunbar massage therapist sexually assaulted two clients

Murray, of Elder Street, Dunbar, returned to the dock for sentencing on Monday, where Sheriff Ian Anderson was told that the shamed therapist continued to deny he attacked both women.

Advocate Lili Prais, representing Murray, said that her client “unremarkably retains the position he adopted at trial” and said that the social work report deemed him as “very low risk” of any sexual reoffending.

Ms Prais said that Murray had “a [previous] significant employment history” as a civil engineer and hoped to “reignite” his career in that field in the future.

Sheriff Anderson said that he was issuing a community disposal as “an alternative to custody due to the nature of the offences”.

Murray was placed on a supervision order and on the sex offenders' register for 12 months.

The sheriff also imposed a conduct requirement where Murray is banned from massaging anyone apart from his wife and banned him from contacting both victims in the case.

'Stunned to the spot'

Previously, the first victim told the trial that she attended for massage sessions with Murray for treatment to her neck, back and shoulders after contacting him on Facebook in November 2021.

She said that, during the second appointment, he had asked her to lie on her back with a towel covering her upper body.

The woman, who is in her forties, said: “His hands went down my cleavage and he brought them back up again over my breasts. He touched my nipples.

“I was stunned to the spot. I have never been touched intimately like that apart from my husband in 20 years.

“I certainly never consented to it – I felt violated by it.”

The woman told the court that she had subsequently suffered panic attacks due to the assault and was forced to take time off work due to stress.

'Very exposed'

The second victim told the court that she suffered from muscular and back pain, and contacted Murray through his social media page in June 2022.

The woman, who is in her thirties, said she attended three appointments with the therapist and, on the third occasion, he had asked her to lie on her back with a towel covering her upper body.

She told the trial that Murray used both hands to massage “under my arms and down the side of my breasts” as he slid his hands under the towel.

The woman said: “His fingers were so far down they were just about touching my nipples.

“I didn’t do anything as I didn’t know what to do in that situation.”

She said that Murray had “stopped just short of touching my nipples” and that she had felt “very exposed” and “uncomfortable” during the massage session.

Murray was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women by touching their breasts without consent at a business premises at High Street, Dunbar, on November 3, 2021, and June 30, 2022.