You’ve a cracking figure... what optician told girl in her eye test
AN OPTICIAN told a young woman in an eye test that she had a “cracking figure” and “really tight” bottom.
Stewart Clough told her that horse riding was good for a shapely behind while cupping his hands and said: “I bet you’re surrounded by men,” a panel was told.
After he discovered she had complained, he offered her £1,000 and a free pair of glasses to back down.
Embarrassed
Yesterday, Clough, 53, was insistent his remarks were simply banter.
He said: “She had a good figure, she is a nice young lady. I never had the intention of chatting her up.
“The comments are more in the nature of a Carry On film.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s just a naff thing to say, really.
“I accept it is wrong. I was behaving as if she was somehorse one I had known for a long time and was having a laugh with.”
He could be thrown out of the profession when his fate is decided today.
The General Optical Council hearing in central London was told that Clough also squeezed her shoulder and ran his hand down her arm.
He claimed he blurted out the “cracking figure” remark and – embarrassed – tried to turn the conversation to horse riding but dug himself deeper.
After the visit to Value Vision in Manchester in December 2015, the woman, in her early 20s, went to police and was referred to the optical council.
Clough found out and offered her £1,000 to withdraw her complaint, it was alleged.
She told the hearing: “He asked how I kept in good shape and we talked about riding. He said, ‘Yes it gives you good abs and a really tight’ bottom.
“I remember him putting particular emphasis on the word ‘tight’. That was when he made the hand gesture.
“He very gently brushed the hair over the ear and as he did that he wiggled my ear.”
Yesterday, he admitted some inappropriate behaviour but denied sexual motivation.
Devastated
However, the panel found it was and his cash offer was a bid to stop investigations.
Christopher Geering, representing the council, said: “You may reasonably infer the motivation was a sexual one.”
Clough, of Bury, said he had been left devastated by the death of his father, the loss of £250,000 in a failed business, a £14,000 VAT bill and the jailing of his optician brother for voyeurism.