PREDATOR FOLLOWED WOMAN HOME AND SEXUALLY ASSAULTED HER
A man who is married and works as a plumber has been sentenced to two years in prison after he followed a woman from an all-night bakery with the intent to commit a sexual assault.Stephen Willocks, aged 59, who is a grandfather, tracked his victim back to her residence before attacking her sexually.
He was ordered to be on the Sex Offenders Register for a decade after being convicted at Dundee Sheriff Court.
The court was informed that Willocks initially followed the woman from a 24-hour bakery in Arbroath, where she was last seen leaving after a night out at a nightclub where he was drinking alone.
Witnesses testified that he was bothering her in Pie Bob’s bakery.
They also described how she appeared distressed as she left the establishment with baked goods and eventually entered a taxi.
The woman, whose identity is protected for legal reasons, recounted that she later saw Willocks someone she did not know prior to the incident at her house.
She told the court she asked him to leave.
However, after she went inside her home and upstairs to the bathroom, she returned to find Willocks waiting for her, leading to the assault.
Sheriff Paul Brown said: “This is a very serious matter.
“The complainer’s evidence was that her memory of her journey from the nightclub to Pie Bob’s to her home was unclear.
“However, she remembers coming into her home herself.
“She said you came in after her.
“She emerged to find you on the stairwell.
“She said she told you to leave.
You assaulted her.
“I take the view that the complainer’s evidence was credible and reliable.
“You followed her.
She was uncomfortable and scared in Pie Bob’s.
“Neighbours spoke to her running hysterically into their house in a state of undress.
“I note your previous good character and the devastation this has had on your life.
“What I have not heard is any remorse, empathy or concern for the victim of your crime.” Counsel for the defence, Jonathan Crowe, said: “It is perhaps all too easy to apply sinister overtones to the case, to suggest he’s some sort of predator who targeted her in the nightclub, followed her home and assaulted her.
“It does not follow automatically that the accused followed her home.
“Evidence from the complainer, accused and CCTV was open to interpretation on how he ended up in her home.
“It was her evidence that she was oblivious to anything until she turned round at the front door and became aware of the accused behind her.
“It was a situation where two drunk individuals ended up at the complainer’s flat and Mr Willocks tried to initiate sexual relations with the complainer which she did not want.
“This led to what the jury decided was a sexual assault.
“He and his family are of the opinion this was completely out of character for him.” He said his first offender client had no “plausible explanation” for gong to the nightclub.
Willocks, Townhead Road, Arbroath, was found guilty of sexually assaulting the 21-year-old woman at an address in the Angus town on 21 December 2019.
The jury deleted a reference to him having the intent to rape his victim from the charge before finding him guilty of a violent sex attack.
He was cleared of a second charge of sexually assaulting a second woman in the Anchor Bar in Arbroath on November 9 2019.
