A teenage girl was molested by a yoga teacher after he invited her to a health spa for a massage.
Philip Bannister, 65, groped his victim's chest underneath her underwear after suggesting she took her clothes off and lay on a bed. Bannister, described as a 'pillar of the community' by those who knew him, also carried out a 'sexualised' photoshoot of his victim.
The girl, 13, was told to pose and pout for the camera. Now a judge, sentencing him to a 20 month suspended jail term, said Bannister became 'obsessed with her and attracted to her'.
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Bannister, of St Alban's Road, Darwen, has been handed a 20 month sentence suspended for two years. David Traynor, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court Bannister's victim was known to him, LancsLive reports.
When Bannister invited the girl for a spa day, she thought it would be 'a giggle', the judge said. Bannister draped a towel over the youngster and massaged her lower and upper legs, before moving onto her back. He then said he would massage the girl's stomach, but went on to molest her.
The girl later told police it felt "weird, because I didn't know why he did it." A few months later, the girl - who can not be identified for legal reasons - told a friend, who called the youngster's dad to tell him what had happened.
Her dad confronted Bannister, who admitted he had given the teenager a massage and that it was "ill-advised." On a separate occasion, the girl's mum was contacted by the mother of one of her daughter's friends to tell her about some inappropriate photos she had seen on her daughter's iPad. Following his arrest, churchgoer Bannister contacted the Diocesan safeguarding officer to ask for advice.
He also separated from his wife and moved away from the Preston area, his barrister Ms Fitzpatrick told the court. She said the defendant had an exemplary work history but retired in 2014 following a heart attack and subsequent bypass surgery. He now teaches yoga to adults, she said.
Canon Adrian Towers gave a reference to the court in which he described Bannister as "a sincere and prayerful man who is distressed by what has happened". When the police spoke to Bannister, he denied the massage was sexual but later pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child.
Judge Guy Mathieson said: "This is a man who is hopelessly infatuated, although he doesn't accept that. He still tries to spin it that this was some kind of innocent massage."
As Bannister stood shamefaced in the dock, the judge told him: "You abused not only that girl but her trust and her parents' trust. It is clear to me, even if you are still in denial, that your motivation was sexual. You became obsessed with her and attracted to her and began to see her as a young woman when she was clearly an innocent child. You sexualised her, whether she realised it or not.
"She may have viewed the dressing up and photoshoot as just dressing up and fun but they had the ulterior motive for you of exactly the opposite, egging her on to pose and pout for your sexual gratification."
He said Bannister suggested the spa trip to the girl and instigated the massage. "I suspect you wanted to go further but didn't dare", he said. The judge said he accepted the references, including one from Bannister's ex wife, who supported him from the public gallery, that the offence was out of character and was a 'one-off.' He said Bannister had taken steps to "distance himself from temptation."
He ordered the defendant to undertake 50 days rehabilitation activity requirements, and made a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and restraining order.
