A TEENAGER who ambushed a young woman in a dark alleyway as she walked to work has been found guilty of assault.

The woman had told Edinburgh Sheriff Court she believed she would have been sexually assaulted by Colin Wallace, 18, if a passer-by had not intervened after hearing her screams.

Wallace had been accused of assault with intent to rape the 28-year-old retail manager in Stockbridge on March 4 last year.

But a jury said they were not convinced the attack was sexually motivated and convicted him of the lesser charge of assault.

Wallace was also found guilty of carrying a knife in a public place and failing to appear in court in relation to the case on two separate occasions.

The woman told the court she continued to suffer panic attacks following the attack.

Identifying Wallace in court, she said she was “120 per cent” certain he was the man who had attacked her.

She said she had first noticed Wallace near Princes Street at 6.10am on the morning of the attack, and saw him again in Queen Street, but thought nothing of it.

She had then turned into Gloucester Lane and a short time later, heard ice cracking under someone’s feet. It was Wallace behind her.

In her evidence, she said: “I started to panic a little because he had reappeared and I knew something wasn’t quite right.”

The woman had quickened her pace and Wallace did the same, then grabbed her around the neck and tried to pull her to the ground. He had made no attempt to touch the rucksack she was carrying, she said.

After a two-minute struggle in which the woman managed to stay on her feet, cleaner Harry Ault, 51, who was walking to work at 6.25am heard a woman shouting for help and he ran towards the lane.

He told the court he had seen a tall man holding a girl around the chest and trying to drag her up Gloucester Lane.

Mr Ault positively identified a distinctive pair of jeans and dark-rimmed glasses worn by Wallace when he was detained as the same as the attacker had been wearing.

On spotting Mr Ault, the man had let go of his victim and run off, he said.

The woman called police when she got to work and they found Wallace walking along Queensferry Road. He had leaned into a gap in a hedge and looked as though he was trying to hide, said one of the officers.

They had searched Wallace and found a knife hidden in his jacket, which he claimed was for his protection.

Wallace, a first offender, from South Clerk Street, will be sentenced next month after background reports.

LONDON: Green” marketing is everywhere, and you would be hard-pressed to find a company that doesnt talk about its pursuit of “sustainability” in its mission statement, corporate social responsibility program or other communications.

Yet when shoppers walk through the aisles, choosing the brands that end up in their shopping cart, they are still far more interested in factors like price, functionality and packaging than they are in the producers environmental record, said Bart Becht, chief executive of the consumer product company Reckitt Benckiser, during a recent meeting with reporters in London.

“It doesnt drive purchasing intent,” he said. “At the end of the day, its the consumers decision, and theyre not doing anything about it.”

Reckitt, which owns brands like Lysol, Vanish and Woolite, is trying to change that with an advertising campaign that takes a message of environmental responsibility directly to the consumer.

The ads, for Reckitts automatic dishwasher detergent brands, Calgonit and Finish, contend that consumers could save a whole lot of water and energy by using a dishwasher rather than doing the work by hand.

It should be noted that Reckitt does not own any manual dishwashing brands, so it stands to benefit from an increase in dishwasher use. But the company insists that its new approach is not “greenwash,” as spurious environmental ad claims have been labeled.

Citing research conducted at the University of Bonn, which compared the water and energy consumption of people from several European countries who washed dishes by hand with the amounts used by modern dishwashers, the company said the machines won, hands down.

Coming in for particular scorn was a category of test subject identified as “the carefree dish washer.” These people kept the water running during the whole process, squirting dishwashing liquid on the sponge throughout but still ending up with the dirtiest dishes and the most wasted water and energy.

A Calgonit ad now appearing on television in Germany tells consumers they could reduce their water use by 85 percent by using a dishwasher. That is 700 million bathtubs full of water a year across Germany, according to the ad, created by the agency Euro RSCG, which is part of Havas.

“So Calgonit is not only good for your dishes but for our future, too,” the ad says. “Be a part of it.”

The ad may be used in other European markets, like Britain, where Reckitt sells the Finish brand, and the United States, where it uses the Electrasol name, said Rob de Groot, global category officer for automatic dishwashing and surface care at Reckitt. Different ads with a similar message have appeared in other markets, including Southern and Eastern Europe and South Africa.

Its not the first time that an advertiser has asked consumers to conserve. Procter Gamble used a similar message in a recent campaign in Britain for its Ariel brand of laundry detergent, urging people to use lower temperature washing cycles. Government agencies and others have often asked people to save energy and other resources.

But many marketers, not wanting to be seen as hectoring those who buy their products, have been wary about taking this approach. As a result, many green ad campaigns talk more about what companies are doing to reduce their carbon footprints or to otherwise make the world a better place.

“There are a lot of high-level messages out there, but very few that zero in to this level,” said Pete Zillig, global brand director at Euro RSCG.

Getting specific can complicate matters in some cases. In South Africa, the Advertising Standards Authority recently banned ads for Finish that made the environmental claims, saying Reckitt was unable to prove, as the spot claimed, that automatic dishwashers used 50 percent less energy and a tenth of the water.

Some consumers had complained to the authority, saying such comparisons were not relevant in a country where many people lack running water.

And you thought dishwashing was a carefree matter?

Eric Pfanner can be reached at adcol@iht.com.

E-TRADE, () a discount broker, said 99% of its mortgage-backed securities are rated AAA. E-Trade fell 28% intraday on subprime fears before rallying to close down only 2.6%. Shares rose in late trading.

RED ROBIN GOURMET BURGERS, () a restaurant chain, lifted EPS 2% to 44 cents ex items, beating views by a penny. Sales grew 31% to $178.5 mil. It fell 2%.

BEA SYSTEMS, () a maker of software that tracks transactions and messages, lifted Q3 revenue 7% to $364.6 mil. EPS figures were not released due to an internal review. It climbed 4%.

AUTODESK, () a data and design software maker, lifted Q2 EPS 37.5% to 44 cents, a penny over views. Revenue rose 17% to $526 mil, just ahead of forecasts. It rose 1.7%.

ELIZABETH ARDEN, () a cosmetic company, swung a Q4 profit of 34 cents from a 4-cent loss, 16 cents above views. Sales grew 28% to $242 mil, besting expectations. It climbed 1.5%.

PARKER HANNIFIN, () a motion-control products maker, okayed a 3-for-2 split and a $500 mil share buyback. Shares rose 2%.

WHOLE FOODS, () an organic and health food oriented grocery chain, said a judge rejected a bid to block the chain’s acquisition of rival Wild Oats. () Shares surged 7%.

DARDEN RESTAURANTS, () owner of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains, will buy steakhouse owner RARE Hospitality International () for $38.15 a share in cash, or $1.4 bil. It dipped 2%.

BELDEN, () maker of cables and wire for telecoms, OK’d a $100 mil buyback. It slid 3%.