A JURY has convicted a man who filmed himself sexually assaulting two women at his house in Colchester.
Michael Cotton has been standing trial charged with two counts of sexual assault in 2018, with one victim telling the jury she woke up to find the defendant performing a sexual act upon her.
A second victim, who also gave evidence under cross-examination, told Chelmsford Crown Court she had been at Cotton’s address for a party and woke up in a soundproof bedroom with no clothes on.
The offences were discovered in 2019 when videos were found of Cotton sexually assaulting two women.
Cotton, 55, admitted filming what happened but argued the sexual activity was consensual.
Michael Hillman, prosecuting, told the court Cotton on one occasion massaged a woman’s foot before she asked him to stop.
He said: “She was in the house in early 2017 – she was having a conversation with the defendant and the defendant said to her he had recently taken a course in foot massage.
“He proceeded to massage her foot – she said she found this all a bit odd and felt uncomfortable.
“When she said ‘that’s enough’ the defendant took her feet to his mouth and she pulled her feet away.”
In a separate incident, a victim woke up “completely naked and without any bedclothes over her” before Cotton “sat down on a chair next to the bed, leant over, kissed her on the lips and put her tongue in her mouth."
Describing the night before the assault, she said: “I remember sitting there and feeling cold – I had something fleecy round my shoulders.
“That’s the last thing I remember feeling in the garden.
“I don’t go to bed nude anyway, ever – I always wear PJs.
“I can just remember not remembering how I got to bed.”
Mr Cotton’s partner, Shirley-Ann Evans, told the court that the defendant had been “flirting” with one of the victims and “slapped him to the face” the next morning, but said nothing more had happened.
Cotton, of Romford Close, Colchester will be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday, October 2.
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