Man Sexually Assaults Woman Sleeping Next To Him While Wife Was On Other Side Of Bed

After a wedding, a recruitment consultant sexually abused a woman sleeping next to him in bed while his spouse slept on the other side of the bed.

Joe Holtham, 32, shared a room at the Hunters Hall hotel near Tetbury, Glos. in England, with his wife Sarah and three other couples because one of the couples couldn't find their room key.

Holtham slept with his wife to his right, another woman to his left, and a third woman on the other side of the room.

Gloucester Crown Court said in an online tabloid that the third woman's husband was lying on the floor.

Holtham denied groping the woman sleeping next to him. He claiming that the only time he touched her was when he mistakenly placed his hand on her bottom, assuming she was his wife.

He was found guilty of raping the woman by a jury.

Prosecutor Michael Hall said in a report that the Holthams, along with the other couple and the suspected victim, were guests at a wedding in Tetbury.

He said the couple couldn't locate their room key that night, which meant the victim was locked out of her room as well because she had left her key in theirs.

They decided to share a room with the Holthams.

Mr. Hall claims the complainant froze when she realized she was being raped in the middle of the night. He went on to say that it took her a few moments to come around because everyone had been drinking.

The woman remained motionless, pretending to sleep in the hopes that it would stop. The next thing she noticed was that her wrap-around dress was being undone.

"She became aware that the defendant's wife had woken up and there was some conversation between them, pillow talk in hushed tones," Hall said in an online tabloid.

Mr. Hall said that the woman lay still until she thought Mr. Holtham had returned to sleep.

She stood up, went to the toilet, and then collapsed on the floor.

Mr. Holtham sat up and offered her his room, saying he'd get on the floor if she refused, but she declined.

Mr. Hall said that after retrieving her room key, the woman left the hotel without eating breakfast and went to her mother's house to tell her what had happened.

"She told her mother that she had been sexually assaulted by Joe Holtham," he said.

When the alleged victim returned home to London, she went to Bishopsgate police station with a friend to report the incident.

Holtham told Gloucestershire Police that he may have inadvertently put his hand on the woman's bottom. But that was because he was used to his wife sleeping on that side of him.

He tried to wake her up at one point, and she said he was 'really hot' and moving around a lot on the bed.

When she had left the hotel room, he text her. "Would you mind chatting when we get a moment to ourselves? Sorry," he said.

He even tried to call her once, she said, asking if she was okay and why she was blanking him.

She added that she had not replied to the messages or spoken to him after the incident.