Campbell Taylor, a stables owner in Edinburgh, has been convicted of sexually assaulting three women by pulling their clothes off and striking them with a horse whip. He denied any wrongdoing, claiming the incidents were part of a culture of “practical jokes” and “horseplay” among employees at his farms. However, he was found guilty of seven sexual offences by a sheriff following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Taylor, who is listed as a company director with horse share firms, was accused of assaulting women at farms near Edinburgh between 2009 and 2019. The victims reported that Taylor exposed their underwear and struck them with a horse whip. He also sexually assaulted one victim during shopping trips to Tesco and a retail park in Edinburgh. The prosecutor described Taylor’s actions as “a systematic course of abusive conduct” and noted that he held “some position of power over each of these women.”
Despite being cleared of an allegation of animal cruelty, Taylor has been placed on the sex offenders register and could be banned from working with children and vulnerable adults. He will be sentenced next month after social work reports and a restriction of liberty order assessment are prepared. The trial heard from four women who accused Taylor of targeting them with sexual assaults at his livery yards in Edinburgh.
