Hotel boss jailed after sexually assaulting ‘vulnerable’ drunken guest at Scottish Highlands retreat
29 August 2024, 11:27
The owner and director of a hotel in the Scottish Highlands has been handed an 18 month prison sentence after admitting assaulting a male guest in his room.
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Judge Lord Young told William Parsons that his victim's level of intoxication was "obvious" to police officers and his own colleagues.
"Your victim was heavily intoxicated, he was in a vulnerable state and he was a guest within your hotel," he said. "Rather than looking after your intoxicated guest, you took advantage of him."
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Parsons, 71, carried a tray of drinks to his victim's room before the attack took place.
The 38-year-old man had been taken to The Royal Hotel in Tain by police because he was drunk and had nowhere else to go.
Parsons then started a conversation with him in the bar before taking the 38-year-old to his room with the master key, after he'd lost his.
The victim woke up in a distressed state and messaged a friend on social media concerned that something sexual had happened without his consent.
That friend called the police.
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The 71-year-old hotel owner was subsequently arrested and charged with rape after forensics showed sexual activity had happened.
However, the Crown accepted Parson's guilty plea to a reduced charge of sexual assault right before a criminal trial was due to start .
William Parsons will has received an 18 month custodial sentence, a 10-year non-harassment order against his victim and will be subject to notification requests under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act for a decade.
