A LORRY driver who walked around the house naked and smacked a young woman's bare bottom has walked free from a Worcester court.

Robert Bytheway was spared an immediate jail term at Worcester Magistrates Court on Monday after he admitted the sexual assault on the teenage woman.

The 50-year-old, pictured walking along Castle Street in Worcester after being given a suspended sentence, smacked her bottom so hard it stung after pulling her clothing down during the assault on April 4 this year.

Owen Beale, prosecuting, said the defendant had been seen walking naked around the house while visitors were present.

During the incident itself he was 'completely naked', sitting down next to the complainant on a bed. "Without saying anything he started to tickle her rib area over her clothing. She was saying 'get off' but that he 'continued to tickle her for about five minutes'.

Bytheway then pulled down her clothing 'and smacked her bare bottom once' said Mr Beale.

He added: "It was quite hard and it stung her. She said 'I was so shocked I could not speak'."

In a victim personal statement she referred to feeling 'on edge' afterwards and said: "I would not know what to do if I saw him."

The complainant, who cannot be identified, described 'a huge impact on her social life because of her fear of seeing him'.

"She said she was going to be more cautious around men now and did not want men close to her" said Mr Beale.

Fergus Maxwell, defending, said: "It's one smack on the bottom then it ends. That's the extent of it. I have to accept there's an element of breach of trust."

The solicitor said: "He's a gentleman who has had a fairly miserable and somewhat insular existence since the breakdown of his relationship in 2017."

Magistrates had previously been told that Bytheway had been given a community order in 2017 for battery and assaulting an officer, resulting in a community order.

Mr Maxwell explained that the only other time Bytheway had appeared before the court was 'at the end of his marriage when it transpired his wife was conducting an affair behind his back'.

"He's a long distance lorry driver and therefore doesn't associate with lots of other individuals" said Mr Maxwell.

He told the bench that Bytheway had lost both parents over the last two years and 'has very little human contact'. "He accepts he overstepped the mark" said Mr Maxwell.

Bytheway lost his job as a lorry driver when the assault was reported but has since secured agency worker as a driver because of the shortfall.

Magistrates sentenced Bytheway of Lansdown Green, Kidderminster, to 18 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months and ordered him to pay £300 compensation to the complainant.

A restraining order for two years was made which prevents him having contact, directly or indirectly, with the complainant and from going to any address where he knows or believes her to be living.

He was also told he had to register as a sex offender within three days of the hearing. Bytheway was ordered to pay £185 costs and a victim surcharge of £128.