Hotel boss sexually assaulted intoxicated guest dropped off by police

A hotel boss who sexually assaulted an intoxicated guest who had been dropped off by the police has been jailed for 18 months.

William Parsons, 71, assaulted the man, who can’t be named for legal reasons, at the Royal Hotel in Tain, Ross-shire, in November 2021.

The High Court in Livingston had heard how the heavily intoxicated man had been taken to the hotel by police officers because he had nowhere to stay.

Officers described the 38-year-old as “slurring his words” and “having a glazed look in his eyes” when they picked him up.

The man was captured on CCTV chatting to Parsons in the bar shortly before midnight.

Parsons is then seen leading the guest, who is carrying a tray of eight shots of vodka for himself and a whisky for the accused, upstairs to a room where he was sexually assaulted.

Judge Lord Young heard how Parsons’s victim was drunk and unable to consent to the act.

The man notified police after he realised that he had been abused and Parsons, a first offender, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to a sexual assault charge.

On Tuesday, Parsons appeared for sentencing at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Defence advocate Frances Connor told Lord Young that her client was aware that he had “let down” his family and business associates with his actions.

However, Lord Young told Parsons, also of Tain, that he needed to go to jail for his actions.

Passing sentence, he told Parsons: “I have to tell you that the gravity of the offence in this case is such that it requires a custodial sentence.

“Your victim was heavily intoxicated and he was in a vulnerable situation.

“He was a guest in your hotel – rather than look after him you took advantage of him in his intoxicated state.

“The sentence of the court will be one of 18 months imprisonment.”

At an earlier hearing, the court heard how Parsons was the part owner of the hotel – he was also the director of a company that owned hotels in the area.

Prosecutor Alan Parfary said the hotel’s managing director described the complainer as appearing intoxicated and “stinking of marijuana” when he arrived.

In the hotel bar, the guest ordered a double vodka and coke from him, which he was provided with on condition that he take it to his room.

The court heard how at this point, the complainer struck up a conversation with the accused and took a seat next to him in the bar area.

Around five minutes later, the managing director saw the victim outside smoking cannabis and asked him to stop it.

He then returned to the bar area and ordered four large vodkas, a double whisky and a can of Coke.

Mr Parfary said: “The complainer was unable to find his room key and so the accused, being in possession of a master key for all the hotel rooms, accompanied him to room seven to allow him access.”

He went on to say the complainer’s memory of events in the room is “hazy” given his state of intoxication, but forensic evidence was later provided that was consistent that Parsons had sexually assaulted him.

Mr Parfery said the victim’s position was that he woke up in the hotel room around 2am concerned that something sexual had happened to him without his consent.

He contacted a friend on Facebook Messenger and messaged the words “call the police”.

Officers who arrived at the hotel at 2.45am found the victim in his hotel room “heavily intoxicated, upset and agitated”.

Parson’s then lawyer Edith Forrest said: “At the time Mr Parsons was under the misapprehension that (the complainer) was able to consent but accepts now that, given his intoxication, he was not.”

She asked the court to exercise leniency on the first offender and asked Lord Young to impose a non-custodial sentence.

She added: “This is a man who has built up a significant business without a whisper of any wrongdoing against him.”

However, Lord Young decided to jail Parsons. He also placed him on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years.