Security guard not guilty of sex assault (From Warrington Guardian)

Security guard not guilty of sex assault

A SECURITY guard at the Golden Square shopping centre has been cleared of making inappropriate sexual gestures towards a woman while he was on duty.

Barry Nicholls, aged 20, of Craigburn Avenue in Liverpool always denied a charge of sexual assault and after a trial, heard over three days at Warrington Crown Court, he was found not guilty by a jury.

The prosecution had alleged that an incident occurred in October last year, while Mr Nicholls had been working as a security guard in the mall. The complainant had alleged that Mr Nicholls had gone behind her and touched her in an inappropriate place on her trousers, before thrusting himself against her.

But Mr Nicholls denied that he had even been in the area at the time of the alleged incident and had been elsewhere in the centre carrying out his duties.

Stuart Mills, defending, told the court: "Nobody can prove a negative, it is extremely difficult to prove that you didn't do something." Referring to the complainant he added: "Make no bones about it, she was putting on a bit of a performance in court."

Mr Nicholls no longer works within the Golden Square shopping centre.