Pervert, 46, jailed for assault on woman in elevator
EX-POLICE WORKER HAD A HISTORY OF SEXUALLY HARASSING COLLEAGUES
FORMER police worker Colin Cant carried out a “sinister and creepy” sex assault in a lift after treating women like “sex objects” for years.
The perverted ex-civilian worker at Northumbria Police made lewd comments about women’s bodies, remarks about their underwear, quizzed them about their sex lives and sent inappropriate messages over social media while working for NHS Business Services at its Newcastle call centre.
The 46-year-old was suspended from the service last February following complaints about his behaviour.
A probe then revealed Cant, who was also a foster carer, had complaints made against him by 13 separate women when he was employed as a civilian police worker but resigned before any action against him could be taken.
He had also received a formal warning about his shocking behaviour at a previous workplace in 2004.
During a hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Cant, of Hebron Way, Cramlington, Northumberland, pleaded guilty to a sex assault on a woman who was alone with him in a lift. Prosecutor Dr Chris Wood told the court: “The defendant moved behind her and wrapped both arms around her waist.
“He placed his right hand over her right shoulder and on to her right breast, over her clothing and then squeezed her breast. At the same time she recalls feeling his lips on the right side of her bare neck.”
Dr Wood said the attack lasted “seconds” but left the woman “shocked and dazed”.
Cant initially denied the sex offence and said the comments he made towards women in general were “in jest” and had been “taken out of context”.
Dr Wood added: “He advised he would message people after getting drunk on vodka and feeling alone.”
The court heard Cant has no previous convictions but Dr Wood added: “In 2012 he resigned from Northumbria Police.
“Complaints had been made by 13 separate women regarding inappropriate behaviour and persistent, unwanted contact.
“It had been recommended the defendant face misconduct proceedings but no such hearing could take place because he resigned beforehand.”
Judge Tim Gittins sentenced Cant to 15 weeks behind bars.
The judge told him: “It wasn’t banter in 2004 when you were first formally warned about sexualised language within your workplace. It wasn’t banter, it was sexual harassment.
“It wasn’t banter when, following multiple, over a dozen, complaints when females came forward in an investigation by your then employer Northumbria Police and it was determined that you had used similar sexualised language repeatedly, over a period of at least 2010 to 2012.
“It was sexual harassment and, while I acknowledge there was no formal hearing, it led to your resignation and undoubtedly you were aware of what was being said about you. I cannot sentence you in respect of that behaviour but it forms the clear background that you have not learned your lesson from those formal warnings.”
Judge Gittins said the sex assault was a “sinister and creepy” step forward in his behaviour and described the attack as “vile”.
Andrew Walker, defending, said Cant’s comments to women were an “embarrassing relic” of the past and that his behaviour had been, rightly, “well and truly called out”.
Mr Walker said people who present as “over-friendly or jokey” can use such behaviour to mask their low self-esteem and self-worth and be an attempt to hide feelings of inadequacy.