Ben Cotterill n/a

Description

A 'dangerous' sex attacker made a chilling threat as he grabbed a 'petrified' woman around the neck. Ben Cotterill pounced as his victim made her way home alone and told her: "I could f****** rape you right now."

The woman was walking from Stoke-on-Trent railway station at 10.15pm when she saw Cotterill standing in the middle of the road. He shouted at the woman before running towards her, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Barry White said: "He wrapped his arm around her neck and pressed himself against her back and bum. She said, 'Get off me', several times. He said, 'I could f****** rape you right now'. She was terrified and continued to scream."

Mr White continued: "He held on to her for a minute, rubbing his crotch against her backside. He pushed her into a fence with force. She continued to say, 'Get off me'.

A delivery driver came to the terrified woman's aid and pushed Cotterill away and the woman ran home, StokeonTrentLive reports. Mr White continued: "The driver said, 'What are you doing? Do not be touching girls'. The defendant replied, 'I can touch who I want'."

Cotterill, of The Moat, Weston Coyney, denied assault when he was arrested but later pleaded guilty to sexual assault. He also admitted two charges of theft from a shop after he stole a hot tub from B&Q, Meir Park, and a bottle of vodka from Bargain Booze, in Trentham, on October 15, 2024.

In a victim impact statement, the woman said the ordeal had left her shocked and extremely shaken and in need of counselling. She said her mental health had suffered and she feared she would never be the same person again.

The court heard Cotterill had been diagnosed with psychosis and suffered from depression and anxiety. Rashad Mohammed, mitigating, told the court: "It was an isolated one-off incident which is unlikely to be repeated. This was an unpleasant incident.

"His memory at the time was extremely poor. He was behaving irrationally. The reason for that was because of the substance he had consumed. He had taken drugs at the time. It was opportunistic. He asks me to express his regret and remorse. He has not taken drugs for a number of months. That is something he is proud of. It has blighted most of his life."

Cotterill - who had four previous sexual offences on his lengthy criminal record of 66 convictions and 149 offences - was jailed for 32 months and placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years.