Locations
Goredale Avenue, Gorton, Greater Manchester, M18
Description
A LABOURER was jailed for a month and put on the sex offenders register for seven years after he slapped the bottom of an off-duty policewoman.
Anthony O'Neill, 22, was stunned when he was given the sentence. His relatives are furious and say the punishment is over-the-top for, what they say, was a silly joke. They say he has lost his job and been branded "a pervert".
O'Neill, pictured, ended up in trouble while he was drinking in a city centre street at 11am one day in November.
He told a court he thought it would be funny to smack the woman's behind when she bent down near him. Instead, the woman officer produced a police warrant card and arrested him.
O'Neill, of Goredale Avenue, Gorton, admitted sexual assault at Manchester Magistrates' Court. District Judge Paul Richardson told him: "What you did was insulting and demeaning - it was anything but funny."
Jailed
As well as being put on the register, he was jailed for a month but immediately released because he had already spent five weeks in custody.
After he was arrested, O'Neill admitted: "I have done it before. Some women like it, others don't." Outside court, O'Neill claimed he only admitted the sex assault charge because he wanted to be released after being held for 16 hours. He is considering an appeal.
He said: "I should have been sent away because it's taught me a lesson not to smack a woman's bum. But to be put on the sex offenders register is just daft."
'Drink'
O'Neill's mother, Karen, said: "I think it is terrible. People will see that and wonder what on earth has he done, and think it must be very serious. Rapists and serious sex abusers get put on for that long.
"He wouldn't harm anyone. Everyone can get a bit out of hand when they've had a drink."
The sex offenders register was set up in 1997 and holds details of about 29,000 people convicted, cautioned or released from prison for a sexual offence against children or adults.
Convicted sex offenders must register with the police within three days of their conviction or release from prison and failure to do so can result in prison. They must also inform police if they change their name or address.