Emma Richards

A woman who sexually assaulted a taxi driver while he was driving has avoided prison — before collapsing to the courtroom floor in tears, when told she would spend five years on the sex offenders’ register.

Emma Richards, 41, repeatedly ignored the driver’s attempts to keep her away before touching his groin and genitals during an assault lasting around four minutes.

The driver later described how the attack shattered his confidence and left him feeling unsafe doing the job he relies on for his livelihood.

Liverpool Crown Court heard Richards had been drinking heavily when she climbed into the front passenger seat of his taxi in Liverpool’s Cavern Quarter at around 8.50pm on June 12.

During the journey to Litherland, she made suggestive remarks, grabbed his arm and tried to kiss him.

He rejected her advances and told her to remain in her seat. Richards persisted, reaching towards him again before sexually assaulting him.

Prosecutor Ben Stanley told the court the driver feared how she might react if he challenged her while they were confined together inside the vehicle.

Richards also lifted her top and exposed her chest during the assault.

After she got out, the driver drove around the corner, parked and called police.

In his victim statement, he described previously feeling comfortable meeting passengers and working alone with them. Since the assault, being in a confined space with a woman had left him anxious and deeply uncomfortable.

Richards, of Litherland, initially denied sexual assault before changing her plea to guilty.

Judge Simon Medland KC said the evidence against her was overwhelming because the incident had been captured on the taxi’s CCTV.

The mother of four received an 18-month community order with a six-month alcohol abstinence requirement.

She cried as she stood for sentence, then fell to the floor sobbing loudly when told she would be subject to sex offender registration requirements for five years.

She had to be escorted from the courtroom.

When she left the court building, Richards covered her head with a jacket.

Source: UK Database on Facebook