Sheriff quits after sex allegation

Published on Sunday 23 November 2008 20:56

A SHERIFF has quit after admitting he visited an Edinburgh sauna.

Andrew Lothian, 66, who was based at the city's Sheriff Court, took the decision to go on Friday.

A prostitute claimed yesterday that she was regularly paid 50 to whip him at Carol's in the capital.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Court Service said: "I can confirm that Andrew Lothian decided to retire with immediate effect following alleg- ations about his private life." Sheriffs usually carry on until they are 70, which means that Sheriff Lothian has gone four years early.

Allegations about his personal life emerged in a Sunday newspaper.

It was claimed he also paid for a threesome in the sauna in Easter Road, Leith.

Sauna customers are rarely prosecuted but owners can be convicted of living off of immoral earnings.

The sheriff has presided over a number of high-profile cases in the capital. Earlier this year, he jailed an ambulance worker who pointed his camera phone at a woman patient's private parts as she lay half-naked in the back of his ambulance.

He also ruled last year that the NHS 24 system for dealing with calls was to blame for the delay in emergency treatment given to a toddler, Kyle Brown, who died from meningitis in April 2006.