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11
Jan 2023
Harrogate businessman spared jail for sexually assaulting woman in street
A Harrogate businessman who sexually assaulted a woman in the street has been spared prison.
Paul Harper, 41, touched or “groped” the young woman on an intimate part of her body while the victim was walking hand in hand with her boyfriend in Harrogate town centre, York Crown Court heard.
Harper, a married father-of-three, denied the offence but a jury found him guilty following a trial.
He appeared for sentence yesterday for his inexplicable and “predatory” act which occurred at night, in a crowded street “in the middle of Harrogate”, in August 2021.
The court heard that Harper, of Hollins Lane, Hampsthwaite, “brazenly” walked off after the bizarre act, leaving the Harrogate woman “aghast, shocked and distressed”.
Prosecutor Michael Morley read out a statement from the victim, who described the dramatic effect the incident had had upon her.
She said she found the experience “shocking” and described Harper’s behaviour as “outrageous, disgraceful and predatory”.
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She couldn’t understand what she had done “which had attracted this man’s attention” and said she had been treated like an “object”. It made her feel “less secure” in a town where she had previously felt safe. Mr Morley said:
The victim said her “outrage and bewilderment” had been compounded by the fact that incidents such as this in Harrogate and elsewhere appeared to be “commonplace” now, or “just one of those things girls have to deal with”.
She had undergone therapy since the incident to deal with feelings of “anxiety and sadness”.
Defence barrister Helen Chapman said Harper’s business and his employees would suffer if he were sent to jail. He was a man “of some means” and his family were dependent upon him.
Community order
Judge Simon Hickey told the disgraced businessman:
The judge said he had noted the “significant” effect the attack had had on the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
However, he said he wasn’t going to lock Harper up, “although many women may feel that that’s exactly what should happen to you”.
Mr Hickey said he could veer away from a jail sentence because of the effect this would have on Harper’s family.
Instead, Harper was given a two-year community order and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for five years. He was also given a 10-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim.
In addition, he was ordered to complete up to 43 days of a sex-offenders’ group work programme, 80 hours’ unpaid work and a 55-day rehabilitation course. He was also made to pay £3,135 prosecution costs.
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