Somerset man jailed after groping barmaids as he put money down their tops

A Somerset man has been jailed for groping the breasts of three barmaids as he tried to stuff money down their cleavage.

A court heard Peter Hayball abused three female members of staff at a pub in Devon as he was paying them.

The women told a trial at Exeter Crown Court how 56-year-old Hayball leered at their breasts and engaged them in what he told a jury was Carry On style sexual banter.

In victim impact statements, they told of the stress and anxiety they suffered as a result of the assaults.

One said: "I will never work in a bar again because I don’t trust anyone."

Hayball, of Crossways in South Chard, Somerset, was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault against three different women.

He was cleared of 10 other sexual assaults, either on the same victims or a fourth, who alleged he molested her at a village hall near Taunton.

Hayball was jailed for a total of 18 months by Recorder Mr Christopher Quinlan, QC, who also put him on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

He told him: "If you did not create situations in which you were alone with the women, you waited for an opportunity and took advantage of it.

"They were in a situation in which they were entitled to feel safe in their place of work."

During the trial in March, the barmaids all told how Hayball had pulled open their tops and tried to put money into their cleavage, touching the breast of at least one and being fended off by another.

Hayball told the jury that banter and Carry-On humour had been mistaken for sexual advances. He said the incidents had been misunderstandings.

He said: “I never did it. I never tried to put my hand down their tops. I did not touch or grope them. I have not sexually assaulted any of them. None at all, no.

"I am a gentleman and I am respectful to other people’s personal space."

Miss Emily Cook, defending, said Hayball was willing to attend a probation-run Maps for Change course and could be punished by unpaid community work rather than jail.

She said his business has been affected badly by publicity about his trial. He is a carer for his 80-year-old father.