Ex-Bingo Worker is Convicted of Sexual Assault

You may recall a story breaking back in November involving a former bingo hall worker who not only stalked one of his victims, but sexually assaulted another more than the once, well now that man has been handed a sentence, only it is not as harsh as you would expect! Jonathan McKinlay more than just groped the women during separate incidents between December 2018 and May 2019 at the bingo club in which he worked at in Scotland, which he denied of course and came up with an elaborate story that these women were disgruntled women who had it in for him.

Prosecutor Lynne Mannion saw straight through his façade and even though she heard just how traumatized one of the women was, the Sheriff handed him a light sentence – one that does not fit the crime. A guilty verdict was handed to the sexual predator only instead of doing time behind bars, McKinley was ordered to do just 200 hours of unpaid work, with supervision placed on him for one year.

Got off Easy

During the trail, the court heard how the ex-bingo worker claimed these women had made the whole thing up and even went as far as to say that the whole thing was fabricated because he called one of them lazy in the UK bingo club where they worked, so she went about trying to ruin his life! Prosecutor Lynne Mannion said: “The complainers gave evidence in a calm manner. They did not embellish their evidence. The accused’s position is that none of these allegations happened and that these women are making it all up.”

But that was met with…

…the usual line from the defence solicitor Gary McIlravey, which went along the lines of…my client is credible and reliable and is a “man of good character.” The 41-year-old put his hands on one of the women’s leg and thigh to begin with during December 2018. Five months later, he attacked a second woman by groping her breasts. Shortly after, he attacked the same woman in the bingo venue by handling her bottom and pulling her towards his body, so the pair were touching. A third woman had initially come forward, but her evidence was dismissed.

McKinley, who has worked not only in bingo but as a chef and a body artist, was hauled back to the dock once social work reports had been completed. Sheriff George Way handed down a lenient sentence and said: “I’d like him (McKinlay) to have someone to talk to. He needs to have someone to talk to while this is all going on.” Alongside his ‘community service.’ the sexual predator will be placed on the sex offender’s register for a period of one year.

A quick search on Google reveals that in order to get a community service order, the crime committed would be either damaging property, petty theft, non-grievous assault, shoplifting, drink driving or small-scale benefit fraud – making McKinley extremely lucky, but his victims do not feel so lucky!

Source: “Bingo Worker who Sexually Assaulted Colleagues Given Unpaid Work”. Evening Telegraph. December 10, 2020.