The boss of a Highland hotel has admitted sexually assaulting a drunken male guest in one of the rooms.
William Parsons, 70, had been due to stand trial at the High Court in Livingston for raping the man but the Crown accepted his guilty plea to a reduced charge of sexual assault.
The court heard police officers had taken Parsons’ 38-year-old victim to the Royal Hotel in Tain in November 2022 because he had nowhere else to stay.
Officers described him as “slurring his words” and “having a glazed look in his eyes” when they picked him up.
The man, who had been drinking bottles of Jagermeister, cans of Strongbow and shots of vodka that day as well as smoking cannabis, was captured on CCTV chatting to Parsons in the bar shortly before midnight.
Hotel room sexual assault
Parsons is then seen leading the guest, who is carrying a tray of eight shots of vodkas for himself and a whisky for the accused, upstairs to room seven where the sexual assault took place.
Advocate depute Alan Parfary said the hotel’s managing director Ayaz Irshad described the complainer as appearing intoxicated and “stinking of marijuana” when he arrived.
In the hotel bar, the guest ordered a double vodka and coke from Mr Irshad, which he was provided with on condition that he take it to his room.
At this point, the complainer struck up a conversation with the accused and took a seat next to him in the bar area.
Around five minutes later, Mr Irshad saw the complainer outside smoking cannabis and asked him to desist from doing so on hotel grounds and the complainer apologised.
The complainer then returned to the bar area and ordered four large vodkas, a double whisky and a can of Coke.
Mr Parfary said: “The complainer was unable to find his room key and so the accused, being in possession of a master key for all the hotel rooms, accompanied him to room seven at approximately midnight to allow him access.
“Once within the room, the complainer sat on a seat and the accused sat on one of the single beds.
“They engaged in conversation and the complainer consumed three double vodkas in quick succession.”
Forensic evidence of sexual assault
He went on to say the the complainer’s memory of events in the room is “hazy” given his state of intoxication, but forensic evidence was later provided that was consistent that Parsons had sexually assaulted him.
The advocate depute said the victim’s position was that he woke up in the hotel room around 2am concerned that something sexual had happened to him without his consent.
He contacted a female friend on Facebook Messenger and messaged the words “call the police”.
The friend spoke with the complainer on a Facebook video call and described him as being “intoxicated, panicky, crying and in a state”, struggling to get his words out.
He repeatedly advised her that he had been sexually assaulted so she contacted the police.
Officers who arrived at the hotel at 2.45am found the victim in his hotel room “heavily intoxicated, upset and agitated” and Parsons was subsequently detained and charged.
Parsons, who gave his address in court as room 25 of the hotel, admitted performing oral sex on the man on 11 November 2022 “while he was intoxicated and incapable of giving or withholding consent”.
Sex attacker has never been in trouble before
Edith Forrest, defence counsel, said: “At the time Mr Parsons was under the misapprehension that (the complainer) was able to consent but accepts now that, given his intoxication, he was not.”
She said the reduced seriousness of the offence meant it would have been prosecuted at sheriff and jury level and not in the High Court.
She added that the accused had spent a “very uncomfortable night” in prison after being remanded in custody following his guilty plea on Monday.
He had been diagnosed by a prison nurse as having very high blood pressure requiring medication and was extremely anxious.
She added that Parsons, who had never been in trouble before and had no cases outstanding, had adhered to bail conditions for two and a half years and urged the court to release him.
Judge Lord Young agreed to grant bail to allow a community justice social work report and a risk assessment to be prepared before sentencing and adjourned the case until June 12 at the High Court in Glasgow.
Companies House lists Parsons as a current director of Edinburgh-registered Marine Hotel Invergordon Ltd and as a property landlord with the 4 Manilla Crescent Management Company, of Banwell Castle, North Somerset.
The Banwell Castle website, which advertises the Royal Hotel in Tain as an ideal holiday base to explore the Highlands, says the 18th century castle has been owned by William and Hugh Parsons since 1988 and “remains very much the Parsons’ family home”.
