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Ex-teacher Christopher McKenna denies groping sleeping woman on train

A former teacher accused of groping a sleeping woman on a train has claimed he had no sexual motive in touching her.

“I was not enjoying it at all,” said Christopher McKenna. “I was trying to help her.”

The 31-year-old former Sittingbourne Community College teacher is alleged to have molested the young woman as she dozed in a carriage after drinking at a Christmas party.

Southeastern trains. Library image.
Southeastern trains. Library image.

She claimed she awoke to find McKenna with his hand between her legs and applying pressure with his fingers.

After she complained to the police, CCTV stills were circulated in the media and McKenna came forward to identify himself as the passenger in them.

But he denied any sexual misconduct and claimed he had only been concerned about her welfare.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court was told the woman had been to a party in London in December 2014 and caught a train from Victoria to Kent shortly before midnight.

She drank more than she usually did - about five glasses of wine - and fell asleep.

“She woke up much later in the journey to feeling somebody’s hand between her legs,” said prosecutor Allister Walker. “It was touching over her jeans.

“She looked up and saw a male hand grabbing at her crotch. She looked across to the left to see the defendant. She was shocked and startled.”

When the train pulled into Faversham she realised she had gone several stops past her intended station. She got off the train and called her father and boyfriend.

Unmarried McKenna denied in evidence he was looking for female company.

Now employed as a film animator with London-based Moving Picture Company, he said he saw the woman slumped in her seat looking unwell and just wanted to help her.

The case was heard at Maidstone Crown Court
The case was heard at Maidstone Crown Court

He repeatedly asked her if she was OK, he said, and tried to wake her up.

McKenna said he put his hand underneath the table to bang on the underside rather than on top because he did not want to appear like “some kind of ape”.

He told jurors he did not realise he had touched her thigh until shown the CCTV footage.

He denied a suggestion by the prosecutor he was pulling down his woollen hat to obscure his face from security cameras.

Asked why he did not alert the train guard if he was concerned, McKennareplied he wanted to save her from embarrassment.

He said he had been given “safeguarding training” as part of a grief and bereavement counselling qualification and would not have touched anyone physically in a work situation.

The occasion on the train was different, he said, adding: “This was a spur of the moment and informal event.”

McKenna, formerly of Morello Close, Teynham, now living in London, denies two charges of sexual assault.

The trial continues.

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