Christopher Morrison jailed for Asda sex attack on boy
A man who admitted sexually assaulting a four-year-old boy in a supermarket toilet in West Dunbartonshire has been jailed for two-and-half years.
Christopher Morrison, 20, from Elderslie, attacked the child at the Asda store in Britannia Way, Clydebank, on 18 September last year.
The boy went to the toilet alone while in the store with his mother and gran.
A judge also ordered that Morrison should be kept under supervision for three-and-a-half years after release.
Jailing Morrison at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Bracadale told him: "You pled guilty to a very disturbing offence committed on a boy in a public toilet."
The judge said a victim impact statement completed by the youngster's mother revealed that the child was affected by what had happened.
Lord Bracadale told Morrison: "You have no previous convictions but it is clear from the risk assessment report there is a serious background here."
The judge said the author of the report had stressed that the risk could only be addressed and managed if the sex offender took part in offence-focused work in custody and on his release.
A previous hearing at the High Court in Glasgow heard how the boy had been out with his mother and grandmother at the Asda when he went alone to the toilet.
Morrison, who was aged 19 at the time, was already there and soon approached the four-year-old.
The court was told he did not say anything to the boy, but gestured to be quiet by putting his finger to his own mouth.
The boy was indecently assaulted before Morrison was seen hurrying away from the scene.
The child then told his mother what had gone on, claiming "a man" had done something to him.
The woman alerted staff before police launched a high-profile appeal to catch the attacker.
Officers scoured the store's CCTV footage and eventually Morrison, of Elderslie, Renfrewshire, was traced.
His DNA was found on the boy, but when questioned about the attack, Morrison made no admissions.
Police at the time said it had taken a full day to interview the child after his ordeal.
Morrison later pleaded guilty to carrying out the sex attack.