Bus driver who watched porn on school run sentenced to unpaid work

A school bus driver convicted of watching pornography on his phone while picking up and dropping off pupils has been sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work.

David Robe, 55, had previously denied breaching the peace during the course of his employment by viewing images and videos of naked women in the vicinity of children.

But he was found guilty of the offence on the private-hire bus run between the Borders village of Denholm and Jedburgh Grammar Campus, on dates between 1 May and 20 September last year.

Sheriff Kevin McCarron said he believed Robe, of Ashington, Northumberland, remained a risk to the public due to “being unable to have self-control”.

The sheriff told Jedburgh Sheriff Court he was sentencing Robe to community service and two years of supervision as a direct alternative to custody.

Robe’s name was also added to the sex offenders register for two years.

Sheriff Kevin McCarron said: “I do believe this meets the threshold for a custodial sentence, but on his release the accused would not be supervised and the risk of reoffending would remain.

“The public would only be protected while the accused was in custody and I’m in no doubt Mr Robe needs longer supervision.”

At the trial in October, one former pupil told how he regularly witnessed Robe looking at porn on his phone while getting on and off the bus.

He said: “There were images of naked women and a video of people participating in sexual intercourse.

“It was clear he was looking at something inappropriate.”

The teenager said the matter came to light during a police visit to the school in relation to another unconnected incident on the bus and he reported Robe’s actions to the officer.