Man who groped woman on flight convicted of sex attack

A MAN sexually assaulted a young woman sitting next to him during a flight to Manchester, a court has been told.

The victim, in her 20s, was sitting in the middle seat when Tamas Farkas, 36, pretended to be asleep and pressed his leg against her. Then he ran his hand up her thigh.

The woman tried to move away on the Jet2 aircraft from Hungary to Manchester, but Farkas, a taxi driver, continued to touch her until she finally prodded him and asked him to move so she could go to the lavatory.

She stood and made her way to the back of the plane and then broke down in tears as she told the cabin crew what had happened.

The crew found a different seat for her and alerted the police before the flight from Budapest touched down on May 25 last year at Manchester Airport.

Farkas, from Broughton, Chester, who was found guilty of sexual assault, claimed he might have touched the woman accidentally while the plane was encountering turbulence and suggested the woman had invented the allegation to get compensation.

However, the woman told Manchester magistrates court that his movements were “not involuntary”.

“I could just feel his fingers on me,” she said. “He was caressing my leg.”

Joe Connor, prosecuting, said: “This touching was sexual and he carried on

‘There was a sexual element with the touching, as you caressed her thigh for a substantial period of time’

for 15 to 20 minutes. Sam Goozée, the district judge, told Farkas: “Your account is not believable. Your actions and behaviour were deliberate and intentional. This is not something a sleeping person would do.

“There was a sexual element with the touching, as you caressed her thigh for a substantial period of time.”

Farkas will be sentenced at a later date. He was granted bail and his passport was seized.