Description
A drunken sexual predator who who had been on a heavy "drinking spree" has been jailed for six-and-a-half years after he targeted a vulnerable woman.
"Functioning alcoholic" George Toner had been downing large amounts of vodka and beer before he cynically took advantage of the woman. He later tried to talk his way out of trouble with the brazen "fabrication" that she had consented to sexual activity, Hull Crown Court heard.
Toner, 48, of Knightscourt, Orchard Park estate, Hull, denied offences including sexual assault and also assault by penetration on November 8 but he was convicted by a jury after a trial of some of the charges. He was cleared of others.
Claire Holmes, prosecuting, claimed that the incident happened after Toner put his arm around the woman while they were talking. She told him: "Give over" and she did not welcome his advances.
Toner tried to kiss her and he put his tongue inside her mouth. "He ignored her protests," claimed Miss Holmes. "She was not consenting." The woman told him: "Pack it in." Toner sexually touched her and the woman told him to get off.
"She was crying and was trying to push him off," claimed Miss Holmes.
Toner was said to have pinned the woman down and committed a sex act. The woman suffered an injury and reported the incident to the police.
Toner later repeatedly apologised. "He handed himself in to Clough Road," said Miss Holmes.
Toner claimed: "It was just a drunken night." He made no comment during police interview but claimed that any sexual activity was with consent.
Miss Holmes claimed that this was a "fabrication" by Toner. "It's either a deliberate lie or he just can't bring himself to admit what he did, so heavily in drink," claimed Miss Holmes.
The evidence was "overwhelming" and Toner "made up his account" as he went along. "He knew that his account wouldn't stand up to scrutiny and it didn't stand up to scrutiny," claimed Miss Holmes.
"He was undoubtedly, this night, very heavily in drink. What a drinking spree he had been on. Bottles of vodka and cans of beer were everywhere.
"He was very drunk. Heavily in drink, he sexually assaulted her in a number of ways. She told him repeatedly to get off and to stop. She was crying. Why was the defendant repeatedly apologising if this was consenting sexual activity?"
Defence barrister David Godfrey said that Toner had been drinking before the incident but, although Toner was a "functioning alcoholic", he claimed that he had a clear recollection of the sequence of events involving the woman.
The defence case during the trial was that any suggestion that Toner had drunk so much that he could not remember events was denied. Toner claimed that any sexual activity was consensual.
The jury, however, rejected this and convicted Toner of two of the four charges but cleared him of the other two. During the trial, the defence disputed the woman's claims about what happened during the sexual incidents.
Toner, who was already in custody on remand, was given a 10-year restraining order.