Carpet Fitter groped Woman at her Home

Shamoon Arshad, aged 33, of Heaton, Bradford, was jailed for 12 months after he groped a woman while they moved furniture around at her home.

Ian Howard, prosecuting, told Bradford Crown Court that Arshad worked as a carpet fitter.

Arshad had been at the Bradford home to measure up and lay carpets.

He asked the woman to help him move furniture around upstairs.

While doing so, he took several items of her underwear out of a drawer. Arshad also made sexualised comments towards her.

Arshad then held the woman by the shoulders and offered to massage her before trying to kiss her, pinning her against the wall and grabbing her breasts.

Mr Howard explained that Arshad then laid the carpet. On his way out, he tried to kiss her again.

The woman complained to her partner and he was arrested.

Arshad denied any wrongdoing before claiming that the room was so cluttered with furniture, he fell on top of the woman.

He said that because the floor was full, he had nowhere else to place his hands except on her chest to get up.

On the day of his trial in November 2021, Arshad pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the woman.

Arshad’s barrister, Matthew Harding, said his client had no previous convictions and had not committed any offences since the groping incident.

He was a hardworking family man and his wife was in poor health.

Mr Harding admitted that the offence passed the custody threshold but urged the court to suspend it.

But Judge Ahmed Nadim said Arshad’s claims that he fell on top of the woman and put his hands on her chest to get up did not inspire confidence in his character, calling them “ridiculous”.

The offence was a breach of trust after he was invited into the house.

Judge Nadim said: “It undermines the confidence of the public to admit tradesmen into their homes for work to be carried out.

“You have violated that trust by conducting yourself in the manner that you did.”

“Having let you in, she was at your mercy.

“It would be an affront to the law if you were not required to serve the sentence immediately.”

Arshad was sentenced to 12 months in prison. He must also sign on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.