Tearful lawyer: I could not bear to tell police that boss ‘groped me’
‘His hands were on my body’
A JUNIOR lawyer who woke up after a drink-fuelled work party to find her married boss allegedly groping her broke down in tears as she told a tribunal she was too embarrassed to inform police.
The woman said senior partner Ryan Beckwith, 41, got on top of her at her flat and said she had ‘nice t**s’ after she became ‘exceptionally drunk’.
She told a misconduct hearing the alleged attack by Mr Beckwith, from City law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, happened in July 2016. She said she was too embarrassed to report the incident to police, adding: ‘I could hardly admit it to myself, let alone the thought of being interviewed – the thought of police having to interview you.
‘Just the concept of everybody knowing what had happened didn’t feel like an option at that time.’ Speaking from behind a screen, she told the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal: ‘I do still struggle with the incident. I still see my therapist every week and I took medication to help me with low mood and anxiety as a result of what happened.’
The tribunal heard that Mr Beckwith molested her after followed her into an taxi to her flat. She reported the allegations to the company in May 2017. Mr Beckwith was given a final written warning after an internal investigation but remained a partner.
The woman said: ‘I almost went from feeling that I could never tell anyone to feeling like I had to tell someone during that period.’
She explained: ‘I was concerned he wasn’t being removed from his position – that it was decided whilst part of my initial complaint was upheld he would remain in post. He remained as a trainee partner and an appraisal partner and a mentor and I felt that was a concern given my own experience.’
Describing what allegedly happened, she said after they got into the taxi together she told him to stop at his address first before she fell asleep.
He later came into her flat uninvited and asked to use the bathroom before she told him he should not be there.
In tears, she added: ‘ The next thing I remember I was under the covers. I just remember it being quite chaotic. I didn’t have sheets on my bed. I just woke up and I wasn’t wearing any clothes. I remember lying in quite an awkward position on my arm.
‘I woke up with the sound of his voice saying things about my body.
‘I rolled on to my back... I was quite sleepy and he sort of got on top of me. He was kind of making comment on my breasts. He said, “You have got nice t**s”.
‘His hands were on my body and I wasn’t wearing any clothes. ‘
She added: ‘I rolled onto my back and he was on top of me and I was quite conscious that his head and his hands were moving downwards and I was just trying to stop him from doing that.
‘I think I had so much to drink that I was just very unable to really push him off or anything like that.
‘He was saying “Do you have a condom? Does your flatmate have a condom?” and I was just so tired really, and I don’t think I really responded.’
Mr Beckwith is said to have left soon afterwards. The tribunal was previously told he had tried to kiss the woman at a work event at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Oxford.
The Solicitors Regulatory Authority brought charges of breaching professional standards and acting in a way that discredits his profession. Mr Beckwith, who is currently on indefinite leave, denies the allegations.
The woman said she was reluctant to make a case against her boss at first. She added: ‘ I spoke to a friend’s father who is a retired senior police officer. As a result I decided to pause because at the time it felt too difficult.’
The woman said she later started therapy ‘and it sort of got to the point where I couldn’t move forwards or recover without telling someone that it had happened.’ The hearing continues.