A 'predator' sexually assaulted a 'vulnerable' patient in the grounds of a hospital, a court heard.
Russell Jones drunkenly 'loitered' in the grounds of Whiston Hospital 'attempting to befriend female patients' in October last year, the Liverpool Echo reports. The court heard how the victim, who was an inpatient at the time and using a wheelchair, was with her boyfriend and a friend by the entrance when the 45-year-old approached them clutching a bottle of vodka.
Robert Wyn Jones, prosecuting, told the court how the victim was then taken back to her room, but subsequently 'encountered the defendant on a number of occasions' throughout the day. When her partner left in a taxi, the convicted sex offender 'watched and waited' for him to leave before approaching her and attempting to push her back to her ward before a hospital volunteer intervened - at which point he 'claimed to know her'.
