Man jailed for sex assault after Christmas party
THE son of opera singer Rhys Meirion, who was trapped in the wreckage of his crashed car, was told by rescuers he was “lucky to be alive”.
Osian Meirion Jones was driving home last week when his Vauxhall Corsa collided with a tree near Ruthin. The 21-year-old had to be cut free by firefighters.
“I couldn’t move at all. The first to stop was a first responder on his Stoke hospital. Luckily, the injuries were nothing more than severe bruising and some cuts and I only had to spend a night in hospital.
I thought I’d be a lot worse,” he said.
Ironically, Rhys Meirion led groups of celebrities on three marathon sponsored walks, alongside his son, to raise money for the Wales Air Ambulance.
Osian added: “I never thought I would end up being one of their patients.”
Now recovering, Osian is already planning another sponsored walk to raise more money for the Wales Air Ambulance.
Rhys, who might join him on the walk, said each Wales Air Ambulance mission costs about £1,500. A MAN who admitted sexually assaulting a drunken woman after a Christmas party has been locked up.
Paul Barry Owen was told by the judge the woman had felt “depraved and destroyed” by the assault and had suffered flashbacks since the incident last December.
Owen, of Bryn Heulog, Tywyn, was jailed for 49 months and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told the 50-year-old at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday: “These are serious offences as you have taken advantage of a woman in a drunken state.
“Quite clearly they are so serious only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.”
The judge adjourned an application for a restraining order preventing Owen from contacting the woman in order for further inquiries to be made.
A Victim Personal Statement, summarised in court, said the incident had a profound effect on the woman and she worried about seeing Owen in the street.
Prosecuting barrister, Brett Williamson, said the woman had been to a Christmas party in the Tywyn area.
“She met friends before going to the party and alcohol was consumed, and she drank more than she was accustomed to and became ill,” he said.
Mr Williamson said a friend took her home but required assistance to get her inside the house and called Owen to help.
The friend left, but Owen remained, and it was during this time the assault took place.
The barrister said the woman had no recollection of leaving the party or the journey home and awoke to find Owen assaulting her.
She told him to stop on more than one occasion.
Later, after speaking with members of her family, she alerted police and Owen was arrested and questioned.
He initially denied the assault, claiming the sexual activity was consensual. But, when Owen appeared in court last month for a plea hearing, he admitted his guilt.
Elen Owen, defending, said Owen had found the woman in a “terrible state” and genuinely had her best interests at heart but had then assaulted her.
“He knows he shouldn’t have done it. His regret is fully set out in the presentence report and he feels shame, guilt and disgust,” she said.