Handyman who groped mum while her daughters were in the next room jailed

But Anthony Daniel Parkes, of Drumarg Park, Armagh, was released on bail as he intends to appeal the sentence.

Last month when confronted by the Sunday World he said “did nothing” wrong despite a judge finding him guilty recently of sexually assaulting a woman who was paying him to cut her grass.

The court heard how the 56-year-old repeatedly touched the mum-of-two inappropriately including grabbing her on the bum, cupping her breasts and forcing her hand to touch his penis.

And despite being repeatedly told to stop Parkes continued his advances – even offering the mum that he’d come back the next day so they could shower together!

The victim told the court Parkes made her feel “like a piece of meat”.

This week while sending him to prison a judge told Parkes: “The sexual assault of a female by a male is wholly unacceptable. There are no circumstances whereby that is acceptable.”

When confronted by the Sunday World, Parkes said he was still in “shock” at being convicted.

“I’m 56, I have a clean criminal record, I have five children and 15 grandchildren, I would never think of doing anything like I was accused of,” he claimed.

Parkes was convicted at Armagh Magistrates Court of a single charge of sexually assaulting the female on June 20 2019.

Defence barrister Patrick Taggart informed the court of his client’s wish to appeal the sentence. Parkes was granted his own bail of £500 in order to do this, with a condition to have no contact with the injured party or any prosecution witness.