Golf captain is cleared of sex attacks on 4 women
A GOLF club captain and former Royal Family driver was cleared of a string of sexual assaults yesterday.
Malcolm Fawcett, 57, was accused of abusing his position to conduct a two-year campaign of harassment against four women.
Fawcett, who claimed he also drove for former prime minister Tony Blair, had previously admitted being ‘crass and crude’ – but did not realise women at his club described him as a ‘creep’.
The retired police officer was cleared of 11 charges of sexual assault. His barrister Caroline Goodwin QC told the jury that the complainants at Brancepeth Castle Golf Club, near Durham, had colluded to discredit Fawcett with fabricated stories.
He had been accused of planting ‘uninvited and unwanted’ kisses on the women, slapping their bottoms and, in one case, ‘ warming his hands’ by placing them on a woman’s breasts.
Another woman said he kissed her and told her she was ‘f****** gorgeous’ while driving her to the gym – and slid his hands over her bottom while buying a round at a champagne bar.
The women had told Teesside Crown Court they were powerless to stop him grabbing, groping and kissing them in the clubhouse – and said nothing was done when they raised complaints with the club’s management.
After leaving the dock yesterday, Fawcett hugged his wife Audra, 52, a serving officer with Durham Police, who has supported him throughout the three-week trial.
Mrs Fawcett gave evidence to say that any kisses and cuddles she had witnessed were ‘reciprocated’ by the women golfers. The jury was not told of previous complaints made against Fawcett during his time in the police force – including that he used a strawberry in an alleged sexual assault. Judge Jonathan Carroll had refused an application to introduce the claims by two female police officers – from which no charges arose – as evidence of bad character.
Mrs Goodwin told the court that attitudes had changed in the wake of the MeToo movement. She told jurors: ‘Things that were considered acceptable 15 years ago are simply not acceptable now and some people have to catch up.
‘Some things people say are crass – you are not supposed to say to people “your backside is looking good”. But that does not mean you are a sexual pervert.’
Fawcett, of Framwellgate Moor, County Durham, declined to comment as he left the court.