Creepy Ayr perv stole knickers 15 times from washing line

Aug 13 2010 by Jennifer Buchanan, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

CREEPY William McKnight spent months stalking a terrified mum and even stealing her knickers from her washing line.

The 20-year-old pervert lurked night after night prowling around the mum of four’s Ayr garden while she cowered in fear in her home.

He was only caught when her family became so concerned for her safety that they set a trap after two previous police attempts to catch him failed.

The 49-year-old victim revealed: “He took over my life. I became so convinced he was going to do something terrible to me that I could hardly sleep. When I did I had nightmares.”

McKnight even carved out a hiding place in an overgrown bush near the woman’s home.

It is believed that he used it to lie in wait and to evade capture on numerous occasions when he was chased from the scene by police and the woman’s grown-up son.

She explained: “I used to lie in my bed at night and hear him rumbling around in my garden.

“I saw him out of the window and I don’t even want to think about what he could have been doing to himself in the dark.”

The police were convinced that twisted McKnight of Nursery Grove, Ayr was a danger to the woman before his capture and fitted a high tech panic alarm system at her home.

A two night undercover operation to catch him was unsuccessful when he failed to show up the first night and managed get a way on the second.

It was only afterwards that they found the hiding place cut out of a nearby overgrown bush.

A similar area was also discovered in bushes right next to the victim’s Forehill garden.

Finally on June 26 the woman’s family had enough of McKnight’s worrying behaviour.

Her brother and youngest son hid out in the garden shed.

Her oldest son – who travelled to Ayr from his Manchester home for the sting – and her boyfriend and daughter staked out windows on both sides of the house.

At about 1am, they heard McKnight climb the fence into the garden and pounced on him.

The family restrained him until the police arrived.

McKnight, whose Facebook page reveals his hobbies are football and ferrries, pled guilty to stealing a quantity of women’s underwear from the victim’s address at Ayr Sheriff Court this week.

Depute fiscal Jim Kelman told Sheriff Colin Miller that McKnight had stolen underwear on 15 occasions and admitted being sexually aroused when he stole them.

Defence lawyer Ian Gillies told Sheriff Miller that his client had never been in trouble before and that it was not a direct attack on the complainer.

The woman, who was in court for the hearing, was upset by that statement that it didn’t represent her experience.

Sheriff Miller deferred sentence for reports and bailed McKnight. A special condition banning him from the woman’s street was changed to simply banning him from her property.