'The Cat Did It' Says Man Accused Of Sleepover Grope

A Scunthorpe man stroked a young woman's thigh and played with himself during a night time sleepover during a trip to the capital, a jury heard yesterday.

Phillip Andrew Green, 56, of Cliff Avenue, Winterton denies touching the woman, suggesting the house's pet cat may have brushed against her during the night.

He has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexually assaulting on the woman, aged in her twenties, by touching, at a flat in Churchill House, Station Road, Hampton, south-west London on July 27, 2014.

The court heard Green was sharing a room with the complainant and her friend, all sleeping on separate air-mattresses, when he allegedly edged closer during the night and made skin-on-skin contact under her clothing.

“This was a human hand on my leg,” she told Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court from behind a curtain. “I can be absolutely certain that he touched my thigh, yes.

“Nobody has the right to put their hands on me if I don't agree with what's being done.”

She made a complaint to police four days after the alleged incident and told officers: “I was scared to do anything about it.

“I deliberately made obvious movements while in bed to make it obvious I was awake, but this did not stop him.

“I was too scared to do anything about it and felt there was nothing I could do except wrap myself up tightly in my sleeping bag and get as far away from Phillip as I could.

“I believe it must have been Phillip's hand. It was the heat and heaviness and width and size of a hand brushing against me under the sleeping bag.”

She claims that when she made it obvious she did not approve Green sat up and said: “Okay, alright. Sorry.”

She also told the jury she heard “skin on skin” noises during the night of Green playing with himself and continuing when the light of a mobile phone was shone on him.

When cross-examined she denied mistaking the touch to her thigh as the cat brushing against her or her friend touching her.

She also ruled out the “skin on skin” noise as cat grooming or the ruffling noise of Green's sleeping bag.

“I was quite scared of falling asleep,” she told the court. “I was quite wary around Phillip.

“I had never seen him before. I didn't know him from Adam.”

Trial continues............