Former councillor found guilty of sexual assault

Lee Hawthorne served as a Gloucester city councillor for four years

A former Conservative councillor has been found guilty of two charges of sexual assault.

Lee Hawthorne, 44, had denied assaulting a woman on at least four occasions between 31 December 2018 and 1 June 2019.

The judge bailed Hawthorne and told him he is liable to be added to the sex offenders register and could be jailed when he is sentenced on 24 June at Swindon Crown Court.

Hawthorne, of Filbert Close, Gloucester, served as a Gloucester city councillor for four years up until April 2020.

'Provocative lead'

Under cross-examination at Cirencester Courthouse, Hawthorne said he “never thought for one second [that] she wasn’t consenting” and that her consent was all “non-verbal”.

He told the court he had been the "provocative lead", while the accuser had been "submissive".

Hawthorne added: “It’s what we humans are made to do… some people like to take the lead, and some people are submissive.”

At the start of the trial, the jury heard Hawthorne had a past criminal conviction for offences of 'upskirting' in 2021.

He had secretly taken a video under a woman's clothing in an office and had also committed a similar voyeurism offence against a woman shopping in TK Maxx.

In March 2021, Hawthorne was sentenced to nine months jail suspended for two years and ordered to do 300 hours unpaid work after admitting one offence of voyeurism and one of attempted voyeurism.

'Acted inappropriately'

On Friday, Hawthorne was convicted of two charges of sexual assault at Cirencester Courthouse.

Prosecutor Alistair Haggerty told the court that Hawthorne had behaved inappropriately towards the woman and this had escalated to the point of becoming criminal.

The woman initially thought that he was talkative and friendly and a friendship developed, the Mr Haggerty said.

They would text each other but Hawthorne started to send sexualised emojis and pictures to her and requested photos of her, the court was told.

He also sent her photos, including one of him lying on his bed in his boxer shorts.

Mr Haggerty said that Hawthorne eventually began to touch the woman over her clothing, including on the bottom and between the legs.

'She felt helpless'

"In the weeks that followed he repeated that behaviour five to 10 times. She felt helpless," said Mr Haggerty.

The woman sent a text message to Hawthorne to say he had crossed the line and she wanted him to stop.

"He replied with words to the effect that he thought she enjoyed it. She repeated that she did not and it had to stop," said Mr Haggerty.

Hawthorne stopped for some time but he later began touching her in the same manner again and she made a complaint to the police.

'Rubbish excuse'

Hawthorne told the jury he believed the woman had consented and explained that he "liked the idea of a distraction" because of things happening in his personal life.

He said his second child had been born not long before and was deaf, which caused trauma for the family.

He told the jury: "After your wife has a baby things changed a lot in my relationship. I know it's a rubbish excuse. I know it's the wrong reason to show an interest in someone else but that's the fact of it, to be honest."

Hawthorne told the court of several instances where the woman would approach him and her leg would brush against him.

He felt that by continuing to approach him the woman was giving a "non verbal" message to him confirming that she was enjoying the contact between them, he said.

He also told the jury that he now felt horrified about the upskirting offences he had committed.