Landlord guilty of sex attack in pub toilets

A Warsop pub landlord behaved like a 'Rottweiller on a poodle' when he launched a drunken sexual assault on a woman customer in his pub toilet a court heard.
Kevin Mason, landlord of the Crates and Grapes pub in Warsop, arrives at Mansfield Magistrates Court.Kevin Mason, landlord of the Crates and Grapes pub in Warsop, arrives at Mansfield Magistrates Court.
Kevin Mason, landlord of the Crates and Grapes pub in Warsop, arrives at Mansfield Magistrates Court.

Kevin David Mason 55 has been found guilty of intentionally touching the woman in a sexual way without her consent at the Crates and Grapes pub, High Street, Warsop, on May 29 2015.

Mason’s trial concluded at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Tuesday September 27).

Magistrates heard that the woman had been out with her friends and had gone to the pub during the evening of the assault.

During the trial the woman who cannot be named for legal reasons told the court she went to the ladies toilet and the landlord entered behind the room behind her and pushed her into the sink where the assault took place.

She said she had gone to the pub to sing along with the karaoke just after midnight.

There were around five other people in the bar.

During the evening Mason had been drunk. He sat next to her at the bar and put his hand on her leg, so she pushed him away.

She went out for a cigarette and he had followed her out.

Later on he had asked her to give him a hug, which she did but he had grabbed her breasts.

She said she felt “disgusted” with the way he was behaving towards her. She said he had been following her around everywhere she went in the pub, making her feel uncomfortable.

She had gone to the toilet and as she washed her hands in the sink he carried out the assault.

She said: “He put his arms through mine, pulled me onto the sink, put all his weight on me and tried to pull my dress up. He he got hold of my tights and tried to pull them down.”

The woman described how she shouted and screamed at Davis and struggled resist him.

Magistrates heard witness Paula Gannon had gone into the toilet to investigate the screaming and shouting.

She said; “I stood at the door - I saw Kevin Mason with his arms around her and his hands up and in the back of her tights.

“He dropped her like a red hot poker straight away and just said to me: “She is feeling sick.”

She had later told police Mason’s alleged assault had been like a “Rottweiller on a poodle”.

Another witness Shaun Langley told the court he had alerted Miss Gannon, who was his partner at the time after he saw Mason go into the ladies toilets.

He also saw Mason place his hands between the woman’s thighs in the pub earlier that night.

Mason denied anything untoward had happened on the night of the attack.

He said the woman had asked him where his partner was and when he told her he was on his own that night she had put her arms around him and gave him a hug.

He said he had drunk 7-8 pints of lager during the night but denied being intoxicated,claiming he could drink far more with no effect. .

Mason admitted he could have touched her leg on one occasion accidentally.

He said he had gone into the ladies toilet to check if it had been cleaned properly after a customer had been sick in there earlier in the evening.

He said he saw the complainant bending over the sink.

“I asked her if she was alright, she said no.

“About 10 -20 seconds later Paula came in an I said: ”She’s not very well.”

“We walked out.”

He said nothing had happened between them in the toilet.

Delivering the verdict, chairman of the bench Mr K Ward told Mason:

“You are a man of previous good character.

“We have examined all the evidence in much detail

“We find her evidence to be credible and consistent with what she told the police.

CCTV evidence clearly shows you touching her breasts and her pushing you away.”

Three witnesses had seen him touching her leg in a different way from his version of events.

The chairman added the complainant had given a clear account of what had happened in the toilet and Magistrates could find no reason why she would have made it up.

She had reported it immediately to a barmaid who also gave evidence in court.

He said Paula Gannon’s evidence had been credible , clear and consistent albeit with a few minor discrepancies with her police statement.

Paula Gannon had been a more or less an independent witness.

Magistrates were satisfied it had not been flirtatious behaviour in the toile.

He said no credible landlord would have gone into the ladies toilet without checking.

There had been no consent as the victim had screamed and shouted at him.

The case was adjourned for reports until October 12 and Mason was given conditional bail.

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