‘Serial groper’ nurse faces jail over sex assaults
ANURSE described as a “serial groper”, who was employed at a care home, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting women.
Andrew Lauder, who denied 10 counts of sexual assault, was found guilty by a jury of seven counts and not guilty of three following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.
Opening the case, prosecutor Nicholas Gareth Jones said: “He cannot keep his hands to himself.”
It took the jury of six men and six women three hours and 54 minutes to return their verdicts.
Prosecutors had told the jury the allegations related to five women and covered the threeyear period between February 2014 and January 2017.
The first victim said Lauder told her she had a “nice rack”, put his hand down her top and touched her breast.
Asked how the incident made her feel, she replied: “I was really embarrassed and quite taken aback.”
Lauder claimed the woman “invited” him to touch her breast after a conversation about tattoos and piercings.
The second victim told the court he grabbed her hair and pulled her head towards his groin, bent her over in a dark room and pulled her top down to grab her breast.
Giving evidence in his defence, Lauder said the woman was upset about her body shape, so he wanted to give her some “positive feedback”.
He claimed she had voluntarily shown him her padded bra, adding he did not find her sexually attractive.
The third victim told the jury the defendant had “some issues with personal boundaries” and twisted her words into sexual innuendos.
Kevin Seal, defending, dismissed her evidence as “a pack of lies”, but the defendant was found guilty of grabbing her breast.
The fourth victim said Lauder regularly pulled her hair and made loud growling noises “like a dog”.
She told the jury on one occasion, he put his hand on her bottom and moved it towards her genitals, saying: “The things I would do to you right now.”
The court heard he kissed her on the lips, making her feel “vulnerable” and “frightened”.
Lauder accepted kissing her, but said he did so “by accident”, adding he was trying to kiss her on the cheek, when she moved and he made contact with her lips.
He accepted slapping her on the bottom, but said it was “nothing sexual”.
The defendant was cleared of touching a fifth complainant’s breasts, as well as two counts of slapping women’s bottoms.
Lauder, who worked as a nurse for 18 years, told the jury: “I would not force myself on anyone.”
During his closing speech, Mr Seal questioned the credibility of the witnesses and suggested some of the women’s allegations were “very far fetched”.
He also suggested there were “holes and inconsistences” in the prosecution case.
Lauder, 54, from Station Terrace in Wenvoe, was granted bail until he is sentenced on September 1.
Judge Jeremy Jenkins, who adjourned the case for a pre-sentence report, told him: “These are serious matters and a custodial sentence is almost inevitable.”