Warsop sex assault pub landlord appeals conviction

Kevin David Mason, 56, of the Crates and Grapes pub on the High Street, denied assaulting the woman by touching her when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on January 1, this year.

He was found guilty at a trial on September 27, and returned to court on Wednesday when he was given a 26 week sentence and ordered to pay compensation of £250 to his victim and £250 towards the court’s costs.

He was placed on the Sex Offenders Register and his licence as a landlord was revoked.

But his solicitor, John Last, appealed against the conviction as Mason was handcuffed by court officers.

Mason was released and bailed to appear at Nottingham Crown Court at a date to be set, on condition he does not contact the victim, or another woman.

Magistrates heard an impact statement, in which the victim said she had given up her job as a result of the incident.

She said she was “emotionally wrecked” and the incident had caused relationship problems and isolated her from friends.

She said: “For the last 16 months Kevin Mason has terrorised my life. He needs to know exactly what his actions have done to me.”

She said Mason had “betrayed his position of trust” as a publican.

Mr Last, mitigating, said: “Not only has the victim had to live with this for 16 months, but so has the defendant.”

He said the police investigation, in which five witnesses were interviewed, was “relatively straightforward”, but took six months to complete.

Mr Last also disputed parts of the victim’s impact statement.

He said that Mason, 56, of previous good character, had drunk eight or nine pints on the night of May 29, 2015, at the Warsop pub, and had not been on duty.

He added that Mason’s partner was now the licensee of the pub and was in the process of transferring the pub into her name.