Carronshore chip shop boss guilty of sexual assaults on young girls

Francesco Falcone, who left a top job as an analyst to revive the fortunes of his family fast food firm in Carronshore, exposed three schoolgirls there to a stream of food-related sexual innuendo.

Sausage pizza at Falcone's Fish Bar in North Main Street, was referred to by him as "sex pizza". He called onion rings "cock rings", mozzarella balls "breasts" and made phallic jokes about the haggis.He once made reference to a pornographic film in relation to a pizza.Prosecutor Catherine Fraser said Falcone's remarks were "wholly unacceptable and criminal".

He described women's private parts, said a 10-year-old girl had "hips to die for", asked a girl, whose boyfriend lived down south, how they had sex "long distance", and said another young girl was "looking like a stripper".

He also made sexual comments to young girls and commented on their figures.

Falcone, 48, also touched the girls on the hips and waist and twice slapped one of them on the bottom.Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that all three victims were 15 or 16 at the time.

On Monday – following a marathon summary trial that began in November 2022 and was heard over numerous separate days – Falcone, of Larbert, was found guilty of three offences of sexual assault and one of communicating indecently. They were said to have taken place between November 2019 and April 2022 at the shop in North Main Street, Carronshore.

Mrs Fraser said the three girls who featured in the charges had appeared physically distressed when giving evidence about Falcone's "seedy and lecherous behaviour".

Giving evidence from behind a screen, one of the girls said that she'd felt "really awkward and uncomfortable" when Falcone asked her about sex with her boyfriend.

She said: "It went way past a joke. He had a sausage pizza and he was calling it a sex pizza and he was holding it at his hips.

"He'd call onion rings 'cock rings'."

She reported her allegations to a support teacher at her high school, who told her to "write it down". This was then forwarded to police.

The girl told told court: "I really felt I should do something about it rather than just leave it."Sheriff Craig Harris said the three girls had spoken "eloquently and truthfully" about their experiences in the chippy.

He said: "They were young women who found their voice and had the confidence to step forward and speak out against conduct that was unacceptable to them and criminal under the law."

He recalled that one of the girls had broken down in tears twice while giving her evidence.

Sheriff Harris said: "She was not a masterful actress playing a role. This was genuine, pained emotion."

He said he rejected Falcone's position – that none of it ever happened, and that the three girls had concocted their evidence and came to court to lie.

The sheriff said Falcone "had engaged in opportunistic sexualised and flirtatious behaviour and touching with young, impressionable girls".

He also ruled his comments to them about sex and their sex lives were for made for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification or of humiliating, distressing or alarming them.

He said he accepted that Falcone also made comments about foodstuffs, but some of the evidence was that this was in their presence rather than to them, and he said he could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that this was for those purposes.

Sentence was deferred for reports until March, and bail was continued.

Falcone was placed on the sex offenders' register with immediate effect.