City lawyer who poured beer over woman before sexually assaulting her at Christmas party spared jailed

Alastair Main leaving Wimbledon Magistrates Court
PA
Hatty Collier26 January 2017
WEST END FINAL

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A married City lawyer has walked free from court after he was convicted of pouring beer over a woman before pulling up her skirt and repeatedly slapping her bottom at a Christmas party.

Former rowing champion Alastair Main, 35, attacked the woman, in her twenties, at the London Rowing Club in Putney in December 2015.

He first emptied his glass over her and called her a "slut", while also making reference to her nationality, after she refused to give him a hug.

The former rowing club captain then followed her into the ladies' toilets before smacking her around five times on the backside.

Main, from Kingston-Upon-Thames, was sacked from his job as a solicitor at investment firm Schroders two days after he was convicted earlier this month of one count of racially-aggravated assault and one of sexual assault.

He was given a 12-month community order and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years when he was sentenced at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

District Judge Barbara Barnes also gave him a restraining order, banning him from contacting the woman for five years.

During Main's trial, the woman told the court that during the night out on December 16 his demeanour changed after he overheard her talking about her plans for the evening.

She said: "Something had snapped, and there was this anger about him."

Alastair Main was convicted of racially aggravated assault and one count of sexual assault
PA

The court heard that Main followed her into a room and drenched her in beer as she crouched to rearrange her bag, before calling her a “slut”.

Giving evidence, she said he then followed her to the toilets of the club and assaulted her, pulling her hair, slapping her and pushing her around, before pulling up her skirt.

He then repeatedly slapped her backside before following her as she left the building and threatening her.

Defending, Eloise Marshall said the incident had come at a "mad period in his life" and had left his career in tatters.

She told the court that Main, father to an eight-week-old baby and the family breadwinner, had lost his job, sold his car and would most likely have to sell his home.

Ms Marshall said Main's work had "defined him", but that now "it is entirely possible that he will lose his practising certificate; the only profession he has ever known will be lost to him".

Acknowledging that his behaviour had been “wholly unacceptable”, she said: "The fall from grace that he has had as a result of his behaviour that night has been extreme."

Ms Marshall said Main, who was of previous good character, is now a "changed man" and "bears no anger or ill-will to anyone other than himself", and "accepts entirely that he is the author of his own situation".

Sentencing Main, Judge Barnes also ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,000 in court costs.

But she said compensation for the victim was not suitable, telling him: "Money can't pay recompense for this and the victim would prefer to leave all this behind and move on."

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