Hotel boss jailed for sexually assaulting two members of staff

The co-owner of two hotels who preyed on female members of his staff has been jailed for 18 months today (6 April).

Gary Adam, 35, a former British Army sergeant, "used his power" to intimidate and sexually assault two women, an 18-year-old university student working as a waitress and a 23-year-old barmaid.

The incidents occurred at the Waverley Hotel and the Crags Hotel, both co-owned by Adam, which are opposite each other in the main street of the tourist town of Callander, Perthshire.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard the 18-year-old had been working for Adam for only a week when he made a pass at her while she was in another local pub playing pool, forcing her to tell him when she saw him at work that she "didn't want to lose her job – or have sex with him".

Within hours, however, he asked her into the office at the Waverley Hotel on the "ruse" that she needed a new uniform T-shirt, pushed her against a wall, put his hand "quite tightly" round her neck, kissed her forcibly on the lips, and tried to put his hand down the front of her jeans.

"Growling or grunting" in her ear, he was said to have told her that he would "snap her like a twig".

Later that night Adam sexually assaulted her again, "touching her bum" in a darkened hotel kitchen as she bent over to get cutlery.

The incidents occurred on 8 December 2019, and the next day she gave two weeks' notice.

The court heard Adam sexually assaulted the 23-year-old woman repeatedly in January 2020 while she was working at the Crags Hotel.

He followed her into a walk-in cupboard where she fetching juice, pulled the door so it locked behind them, then pinned her "forcibly" against the wall with two hands on her shoulders and tried to kiss her.

She said she was "frozen" and "scared" and didn't know what to do, but suddenly a customer called from the bar, and she was able to leave.

Later Adam, who had earlier been drinking with friends, returned alone and "a bit more drunk" and asked her for the key to one of the hotel bedrooms.

He then texted a demand that she deliver a Peroni beer to the bedroom, and after she left it outside he opened the door, grabbed her wrist, "dragged" her in, pushed her back onto the bed, held her arms above her head and tried to kiss her.

She said she "just kept saying no" and eventually he told her to go back to the bar but refused to give her back her phone - which he had pushed away from her grasp on the bed.

When he returned it later, the text message asking her to take beer to his room had been deleted.

The court heard Adam later told the woman "it would never happen again", but three weeks later after finishing her shift at the Crags she went over to the Waverley to see some friends and Adam approached her and asked her if she would give him a lift back to his home on the outskirts of Callander.

She thought it awkward if she refused, but on the short drive he immediately asked her if she would stay with him in one of the hotel rooms.

When she turned him down, he demanded she stop and before she had even had a chance to turn off the engine of her Renault Clio he climbed over, sat on top of her, and forcibly kissed her.

"Scared and disgusted", the woman managed to call a random number on her phone, and when Adam realised, he stopped and asked to be driven the rest of the way home.

After a three-day trial in February, the jury found father-of-one Adam, a first-time offender, of Cambusmore, Callander, guilty of five charges of sexually assaulting the women. He had pleaded not guilty.

Defence advocate Wendy Hay said Adam, a soldier for 13 years before moving into civvy street in the rail and then hotel industries, was "ashamed of his behaviour".

She said: "It's quite clear he needs to work on his attitude towards women."

Imposing the jail term, sheriff Christopher Shead described Adam's offences and "grave" and said he was satisfied the threshold for custody had been passed.

Adam stood to attention in the dock as sentence was passed and showed no emotion as he was led downstairs to the cells.

Depute fiscal Cheryl Clark, who prosecuted, said Adam had perpetrated "a pattern of systematic abuse against the two young women, engineered situations to be alone with them, and used fear, intimidation, physical strength, and his powerful role as their employer to manipulate the situation".

Story from Tim Bugler of The Central Scotland News Agency Ltd.