by 
A personal trainer who slapped a woman’s butt and said, ‘You like that, don’t you?’ was imprisoned.
Craig Howman, 31, has become the ‘number one public nuisance’ in Northwich, Cheshire.
Often posting selfies on social media of him working out and lifting weights in the daytime, he would then gorge on lager in the evening and start fights in pubs around the city.
Chester Magistrates’ Court heard the coachbuilder had already been banned from entering Northwich drinking establishments and taking oaths in public following a series of drunken fits when the incident took place is produced.
But he repeatedly breached Criminal Behavior Orders (CBOs) and in February he received a suspended sentence after he wandered into the Hart of Hartford pub drunk and started approaching regulars .
Vincent Yip, prosecuting, told the court Howman got into trouble again last May after he got drunk and went to the Penny Black pub.
There, a young woman, in her early twenties, had had a drink with her friends.
“It was around 5:30 p.m. and the defendant was allegedly drinking and started talking to the group of friends,” Mr Yip said.
“As the complainant and the friend got up to go to the bathroom, Howman slapped her buttocks.
“Later, the accused said to him, ‘You liked it, didn’t you? The matter was reported to the police and the accused was informed of it the following morning.
“The victim felt degraded by what happened. She is apprehensive when she leaves home and goes to work.
“She must have confided in friends about the incident. She thinks that without their support, she would have struggled to get through the period.
There were also reports of a fight at the Bowling Green pub in June when police were called to Howman drunk.
As the police went to arrest him, he fled. After a short chase on foot, they were forced to use incapacitating spray on him to apprehend him.
Becky Hay, defending, said: ‘What Mr Howman is telling me about the sexual assault is that it was all amicable during the evening.’
“He had spoken to the lady and her friends, but he accepts that when she got up he touched her buttocks. I saw the CCTV.
“While you can see contact is made, it’s not a full slap on the bottom. She didn’t seem to react at the time, as if upset or angry and indeed Howman says they continued to chat.
“Maybe she thought about it later and was like, ‘I’m not defending this’ and rightly so she reported it to the police.”
“Howman never intended to upset this lady. He had never wanted her to think he was some kind of predator. Obviously, it’s not his thing to go out and upset people like that.
But the court was also told of another incident, in which he abused staff at a McDonald’s while intoxicated.
He told them, “Hurry up, you’re bad at your job” before swearing to them to “f**k off”.
When officers arrived at the fast food outlet, they found him asleep in the restroom.
Sentencing Howman, bailiff Frances Miller told him, “You have a long record of criminal behavior, a long record of disobeying court orders, so this has passed the custodial threshold.”
He was sentenced to 16 weeks behind bars after pleading guilty to sexual assault, drunkenness and disorder, possession of cocaine and obstructing a police officer.
He was also ordered to pay the victim £130 compensation and be placed on the sex offender register for seven years.
Howman was subject to a new five-year CBO, which prohibits him from being in the CW8 or CW9 zip codes with an open container of alcohol in his hand.
He is also prohibited from drinking in all public places in these areas and from entering licensed premises, including pubs, clubs, bars, cafes and restaurants, although he may enter supermarkets. and unlicensed.
The order further prohibits him from causing a harassment or distress alarm, including swearing in public or at the public, including emergency responders.
He must also follow the requirements asked of him by his supervisor at the Westminster Drug Project, based in Northwich.
A violation of the order can result in a prison sentence of up to five years.
Contact our press team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check out our news page.
