A CHEF who sexually assaulted two teenage waitresses during work shifts has escaped a jail term.

Paul Salinger was working at Seton Sands Holiday Park, by Port Seton, when he fondled the two teenagers as they worked together in the kitchens.

Salinger deliberately pressed his groin against one of the girls as he squeezed past her in the busy kitchen.

The 34-year-old also grabbed another youngster by the bottom and squeezed it during an incident earlier this year.

The chef claimed he had worked in many busy kitchens during his career and it was inevitable that people would brush against each other.

Salinger, of Longdykes Road, Prestonpans, said that if there had been any physical contact between him and the waitresses it was due to him carrying “pots and pans in my hands”.

The dad-of-two denied the sex assault allegations but he was found guilty of two offences following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

He was found not guilty of two further allegations of sexually assaulting two women at his previous employment at Cakes and Shakes in Musselburgh between January 27 and February 8.

Sheriff John Cook told Salinger that he had carried out “deliberate sexual assaults” on the two girls which had not been “accidental”.

And last Friday, Salinger returned to the city court for sentencing, where he was placed on the sex offenders’ register and handed a supervision order for 12 months.

The 34-year-old South African national was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the community.

In sentencing, Sheriff Cook said: “These were serious offences and were aggravated by the fact that you were the more senior employee at the restaurant and the age of the young women involved.

“But I do take into account your age, you have no previous convictions and you have no outstanding cases.

“And you do acknowledge you have difficulty with boundaries, which I must say that is the least to say about your conduct.”

Previously the court heard from the two teenage victims, with one claiming that Salinger would deliberately press his groin against her as he made his way past her at the holiday site’s kitchens.

Salinger also gave evidence and claimed that he could not remember any specific incidents but added: “If I had brushed against her I would have had pots, pans and bowls in my hand.”

The chef said it was most likely the girls had felt a bowl he was carrying that had inadvertently touched them.

He told the court: “I would never have done that – I would never have grabbed her bum.

“My body never touched them. And if I had touched them it would have been the pots and pans.

“What they are saying is just not me. I’ve no reason to touch anyone in that way.”

He said he had never been spoken to by park management about any complaints made against him and his employment was terminated without any explanation.

But following the evidence, Sheriff Cook told Salinger he was “satisfied beyond reasonable doubt” that he had sexually touched the two teenagers and to think otherwise would be “fanciful”.

Sheriff Cook added that the offences had been “deliberate sexual assaults and not accidental” and that the pots and pans excuse was “inherently unlikely”.

Euan Gosney, defending, said Salinger now had an “appreciation of his lack of boundaries in the workplace” and that he was deemed “a low risk of reoffending”.

Salinger was found guilty following a summary trial of sexually assaulting a teenager by seizing her by the bottom and squeezing it at Seton Sands Holiday Park on an occasion between March 1 and May 3.

He was also found guilty of pressing his body against a second girl, placing his hands on her waist and rubbing his groin against her at the same location and between the same dates.