Harrogate 'predator' Paul Harper spared jail after sexually assaulting a woman in the street

Paul Harper, 41, touched or “groped” the young woman on an intimate part of her body while the victim was walking hand in hand with her boyfriend in Harrogate town centre, York Crown Court heard.

Harper, a married father-of-three, denied the offence but a jury found him guilty following a trial.

He appeared for sentence today for his inexplicable and “predatory” act which occurred at night, in a crowded street “in the middle of Harrogate”, in August 2021.

The court heard that Harper, of Hollins Lane, Hampsthwaite, “brazenly” walked off after the act, leaving the Harrogate woman “aghast, shocked and distressed”.

Prosecutor Michael Morley read out a statement from the victim, who described the dramatic effect the incident had had upon her.

She said she found the experience “shocking” and described Harper’s behaviour as “outrageous, disgraceful and predatory”.

She could not understand what she had done “which had attracted this man’s attention” and said she had been treated like an “object”. It made her feel “less secure” in a town where she had previously felt safe.

“She regarded Harrogate as a fairly safe town and never felt there were problems there, but she feels less safe in her home town now…and upset that her parents saw the state she was in [when she returned home],” said Mr Morley.

She said her “outrage and bewilderment” had been compounded by the fact that incidents such as this in Harrogate and elsewhere appeared to be “commonplace” now, or “just one of those things girls have to deal with”.

She had undergone therapy since the incident to deal with feelings of “anxiety and sadness”.

Defence barrister Helen Chapman said Harper’s business and his employees would suffer if he were sent to jail. He was a man “of some means” and his family were dependent upon him.

Judge Simon Hickey told the disgraced businessman: “In a crowded street in the middle of Harrogate, you decided to [sexually assault] a young woman…then you brazenly walked off, leaving that woman aghast, shocked and distressed that she could go out in a public street and still be molested.

“You said at trial, ‘I’m not some seedy guy who goes around imposing myself on young [women]’. I’m afraid that’s precisely what you are and that’s why you decided you could grope a woman when she was simply holding her boyfriend’s hands.”

The judge said he had noted the “significant” effect the attack had had on the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

However, he said he was not going to lock Harper up, “although many women may feel that that’s exactly what should happen to you”.

Mr Hickey said he could veer away from a jail sentence because of the effect this would have on Harper’s family.

Instead, Harper was given a two-year community order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years. He was also given a 10-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim.

In addition, he was ordered to complete up to 43 days of a sex offenders’ group work programme, 80 hours’ unpaid work and a 55-day rehabilitation course. He was also made to pay £3,135 prosecution costs.