Bladdergate court case gets under way

A privacy case against Trump's Aberdeenshire course has started at a small claims court. 

Rohan Beyts is accusing the company of breaching data protection law by filming her without her permission.

She claims she was filmed as she urinated in sand dunes while out walking at the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire a year ago. 

Trump International has denied the claims. 

Ms Beyts told the court in Edinburgh that she had gone walking with a friend and had to pass through the Trump International Golf Club to access the beach.

While on the beach she had gone into the dunes after realising that, due to a medical condition, she needed the toilet badly. 

She said she had taken notice of Mountaineering Scotland's guidelines for what to do if you are caught short outdoors, and that she would have been horrified if anyone had seen her. 

Three days later police officers arrived at her house to charge her with urinating in a public place that could cause annoyance. 

She was later told that three men had mobile phone footage of her urinating.

Ms Beyts was reported to the procurator fiscal, but no action was taken. But she has fought back by launching a claim for damages against Trump International.

On Monday, she told the court that she made no secret of the fact that she was opposed to the building of the golf course at Menie from the outset, and that she had a democratic right to object – which she had always done within the law.

The case continues. 

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