AN Ellesmere Port man has been found guilty of two sex attacks on a woman.

Stephen Gratrix, 54, was found guilty of the two offences following a two-day trial at Chester Crown Court.

But the jury of eight men and four women found Gratrix not guilty on a charge of attempted rape.

The jury took just over two hours to reach their unanimous verdicts.

The sexual assaults happened in the early hours of August 18, 2018, when Gratrix kissed the woman without her consent, and he touched her breasts under her clothing.

The woman cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Prosecuting in the trial, Frances Willmott said the charges date back to the night of August 17, 2018, when Gratrix - who had been to the pub and met a man he knew - had gone to the garage to buy some alcohol. The two men then invited a woman at the garage back to his house.

The female victim had gone to the garage to buy some cigarettes and was in her pyjamas, wearing a coat over them.

She accepted and the three went to Gratrix’s home address, where they had a chat in the garden for about an hour around a fire pit Gratrix had recently built.

Ms Willmott said the woman then wanted to use the toilet and went upstairs in Gratrix’s home, only to be followed by Gratrix.

It was accepted by both prosecution and defence that the two ended up in Gratrix’s daughter’s bedroom, on top of the bed.

The prosecution said Gratrix kissed the woman several times to the neck and put his hand on her breasts under her clothing.

The woman, in police interview, claimed Gratrix had his belt undone and put his hand down her pyjama bottom in an attempt to undress her, despite her saying: “No, stop.”

She said the other man, by this time, had gone upstairs and Gratrix said it was “just fun and games”, to which she replied it was not.

The woman and the other man then went to leave the house.

After returning to her home, the woman told her family what she said happened, and they went to Gratrix’s address.

Police were called to Gratrix’s home at 4.30am on August 18 amid a report of people trying to enter the home.

Gratrix had been inside asleep, wearing earplugs, and police said he also appeared intoxicated.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Gratrix admitted he had lied to the police about his initial version of events.

He said: “I was traumatised when they told me I was under investigation for attempted rape.

“I went into an automatic meltdown. I was just thinking of my wife and family. I thought 30 years of my life was over.”

Giving evidence, Gratrix said he had followed the woman up the stairs after waiting for a couple of minutes.

Gratrix said he kissed the woman once on the neck and it had been consensual, but then both of them realised mutually what they were doing was “wrong”.

He denied any suggestion he had sexually assaulted her in any way.

But the jury found Gratrix guilty of two sex attacks.

The court was informed while Gratrix does have a criminal record, it was for two dissimilar offences – breach of the peace and affray, committed when he was 16 and 19 years old respectively – and he had not been in trouble since.

Defending, Mark Le Brocq asked for a pre-sentence report to be compiled in respect of the defendant, a request which was granted by Judge Patrick Thompson.

The case was adjourned and Gratrix was bailed to return to the court for sentencing on September 9.

He was warned by the judge that all sentencing options remained open.