A high school youth worker who had an affair with a 15-year-old pupil has been banned from working with children.
David Pullar, 30, was employed to offer “pastoral care” to emotionally troubled pupils at a secondary in Dundee.
However, the police were called when he was seen kissing and cuddling the girl at a wedding in Pitlochry.
Pullar was also banned from having unsupervised contact with children, was put on the sex offenders register and given 180 hours community service.
He has also been told he cannot live in a house alongside children.
Despite hearing he continues to pose a “medium risk” of sexual offending, the sheriff at Perth Sheriff Court ruled the public interest was better served by not jailing him.
Pullar, from Perth, admitted engaging in sexual activity with the girl at a campsite in Dunkeld on 1 June last year.
He also admitted having another sexual encounter with the teenager at a wedding in Pitlochry on 22 July.
The court was told that Pullar was initially suspended from the school and later quit before admitting the sexual affair with the pupil.
The court heard how he continued his relationship with the pupil after he was suspended from the school.
Pullar has since lost a job in the oil industry and is currently unemployed.
Sheriff Robert McCreadie told him: “This involved a gross breach of trust on your part.
“A short prison sentence – which would be all that is available to me – would not address the risk of future offending behaviour referred to in the [social work] report.
“It is better in the public interest to address the risk which has been identified.”
