A Cumbrian man has admitted sexually assaulting a 16-year-old female in Appleby town centre.
Kevin Bousfield, 62, of Main Street, Brough, faced one charge when he appeared at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court this morning.
Bousfield pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the teenager on May 23 this year.
Prosecutor Diane Jackson told magistrates the victim had just left a premises in central Appleby and was waiting close to the entrance for a lift.
“Mr Bousfield has come up behind her,” said Mrs Jackson. “She describes him saying something. He then placed his hands at the top of both her thighs to the rear, runs his hands up her thighs, over her buttocks to the lower back.”
Bousfield was arrested. He maintained there was no sexual intent in relation to what he had done.
The court heard he had been under the influence of alcohol at the time he committed the offence.
Magistrates adjourned the case, asking the probation service to prepare a pre-sentence report.
A solicitor representing Bousfield — a man of previous good character — said it was important for the sentencing bench to have background information about the defendant.
It was important to note, said the lawyer, that Bousfield’s guilty plea had been entered without a complainant’s statement and CCTV footage.
Bousfield is due to receive his punishment at the magistrates’ court on July 1. In the meantime he has been granted bail which has two conditions attached.
