Jailed, physio who groped patient, 70, and blamed bitter divorce
A FORMER British cycling champion has been jailed for groping a woman of 70 while on a ‘ path to self- destruction’ after his bitter marriage split.
Physiotherapist Richard Hughes, 53, sexually assaulted his patient as she lay face-down having treatment for sciatica.
She tried to shift her body during the massage in a bid to stop Hughes then eventually stood up to challenge him, before fleeing in tears.
Chester Crown Court heard that father- of- two Hughes said he acted out of a ‘desire to punish and destroy’ himself after an acrimonious divorce, adding he needed help.
He said his clinic in Burland, Cheshire, would fold if he was jailed, adding he would have to sell the £300,000 family home in Willaston while his son would have to give up his university degree.
But Judge Steven Everett jailed him for a year, likening his claim that prison would damage his family to ‘emotional blackmail’, adding that Hughes was saying, ‘it was everybody else’s fault but his’.
Hughes, who won multiple UK cycling championships but retired in 1992 after a spinal injury, admitted three charges of sex assault.
The woman attended the clinic last August for Hughes to treat her lower back.
The court heard that during the massage, he put his hand down her knickers and then over her buttocks before moving it towards the front.
The woman tried to move away but was horrified to see him aroused. ‘ Very upset and distressed’, she challenged Hughes who ‘apologised repeatedly’, said prosecutor Sarah Badrawy. The victim told police: ‘I absolutely trusted him and couldn’t believe what he’d done. I feel dirty, disgusted and angry.’
In a statement, Hughes said he had been suffering ‘severe anxiety and depression’. He claimed to have been left with no option but to carry on working to support his family, ending up suicidal.
‘I was at my lowest point when the incident occurred,’ he said. ‘I had a desire to punish and destroy myself.’
Raj Chopra, defending, said Hughes had been ‘going through a very bad patch’ following acrimonious divorce proceedings.
‘It never happened before and it will never happen again,’ said Mr Chopra. ‘We all make mistakes.’
Hughes was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register and faces being struck off by the Health and Care Professions Council.
‘We all make mistakes’