A MAITLAND masseur has spent his first nights behind bars after he sensationally pleaded guilty on Friday to sexually touching a number of female clients during appointments.
Merv Fullford, now 65, had pleaded not guilty to 28 charges of sexual touching and indecent assault relating to 14 clients between 2015 and 2020 and was facing an estimated four-week trial in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court.
But on Friday, two weeks into the trial, and after the jury had heard evidence from a number of women who told similar stories about being inappropriately or sexually touched by Fullford at his Maitland massage studio, the 65-year-old changed his pleas to a number of charges.
Fullford pleaded guilty to 10 counts of sexually touch another person without consent, three counts of indecent assault, one count of indecent assault on a person under the age of 16 and one count of sexual intercourse without consent.
Other charges were either subject to a directed verdict of not guilty, withdrawn by prosecutors as part of the plea negotiations or will be taken into account when Fullford is sentenced in August.
After Fullford pleaded guilty, his bail was revoked and he spent his first nights behind bars over the weekend.
Fullford was a well-known and respected member of the Maitland sporting community and had worked for the Maitland Pickers rugby league club as well as with other junior sporting clubs in the area.
He also ran a remedial massage business out of a room in his Maitland home and it was there that he assaulted and sexually touched a number of the clients who came to see him for issues ranging from muscle or back pain to problems after pregnancy.
Detectives arrested Fullford in February 2020 after two women independently reported to police that he had inappropriately touched them during appointments at the massage business in Maitland.
After publicity of his arrest, more women came forward to make similar allegations and the charges ballooned to more than 28 before the trial.
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