A masseur who sexually assaulted a client claimed the noises she made convinced him she consented.

But the victim, 25, actually suffered from a condition which caused her to involuntarily groan with pain as Graham Stannard touched her, a court heard.

Stannard, 47, was convicted of two counts of sexual assault by a jury at Kingston Crown Court and was handed a 21-month suspended sentence by a judge, reports SurreyLive.

The court heard the woman has been traumatised by the incident, which occurred in the therapy room of a hair salon in August 2020.

During the trial, the woman said she had researched Stannard online before booking a treatment from him and was encouraged by reading positive reviews.

When she entered the massage room, Stannard told her she had a “nice smile”, which she thought was “odd”.

In a police interview played to jurors, she said: “When I removed my mask he said: 'Wow. You've got such a lovely smile,' and I thought that was the first thing out of place."

When she lay face-down on the table, Stannard then told her: “It's really nice you are making those noises. I'd like to hear more.”

The court heard that she said: “I started moving my bum and hips away, but it didn't deter him. He asked me to turn over. I was topless and he looked stoked, so happy with eyes wide open.“

The victim reported him as saying: ‘You've got such an amazing body’, he was ecstatic and said he was going to do my front and I thought he would do something worse.”

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Sentencing him, Judge John Lodge said: “I do not consider for a moment that you had planned, when you went to work that morning, to commit offences of sexual assault.

"But having found a client to whom you felt there was some form of physical attraction you chose to take advantage of the position she was in to sexually assault her. You moved up under the guise of a massage to one leg and touched her naked genitalia.

“You did the same when you provided a massage for her other leg.”

The judge said it was “bizarre” that Stannard’s defence was that he thought there was consent for him to touch the woman sexually.

The victim said, in her police interview, that she assumed she would always fight back and shout out [if assaulted] yet to her surprise she found out she "froze.”

The court heard Stannard was now working as a delivery driver for Amazon and Uber Eats and earns £400 a week. Judge Lodge ordered Stannard to pay the woman £600 in compensation to help towards the cost of her counselling sessions.

The court also heard the victim has shown “courage and generosity of spirit” in her victim impact statement by commenting that she hopes Stannard gets the help he needs.

She said in the statement: “I hope the man in question is provided with the professional help and tools needed to help him change his behaviour, and help in preventing him from committing any further assaults.”

Stannard, of Westcliff, Essex, must also carry out a 35-day offenders programme and 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirements. He was also handed a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order which will prevent him from being a masseur.

Judge Lodge said: “This defendant must never be in a position to do this again for so long as the SHPO is in place.”

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