Sheffield woman left feeling 'dirty' after pensioner squeezed breast in prolonged assault

Prosecuting barrister, Louise Reevell, told Sheffield Crown Court that the first of the two incidents involving defendant, Roy Mellor, took place at a Sheffield social club, located in the south east of the city, on April 5, 2022.

Ms Reevell said the first complainant went over to speak to club regular Mellor, aged 69, and as she did so, put her hand on his arm and asked ‘if he was okay’.

The complainant said Mellor then proceeded to put his hand on her breast and ‘squeezed it’. The complainant asked him to stop touching her breast, but he said he ‘wasn’t touching’ it and began ‘squeezing it harder,’ Ms Reevell told the court.

“She told him to get off her…eventually the complainant threatened to hit him, but he squeezed harder. She slapped him to the face twice. At that point, her mother came over to try and assist her daughter.”

Ms Reevell continued: “He grabbed her [the complainant’s] hair and lifted her off the ground and slammed her onto a nearby table, and grabbed her breast area…others became involved and the defendant was ejected.”

Following the incident, the complainant was left with ‘minor injuries’ including bruising to her breast.

The court was told how Mellor, of Pedley Avenue, Westfield, Sheffield, offended again four days later, on April 9, 2022, when he accosted the complainant and her mother as they walked down City Road, near Sheffield city centre.

Ms Reevell said: “The defendant approached them and asked aggressively ‘what the f*** was wrong with them two’. They referred to the fact he had assaulted the complainant. He threatened to get his own daughter out of her car to hit them.”

Mellor then approached the two women and pushed the complainant’s mother, the second complainant, causing her to ‘stumble backwards’ into a wall, Ms Reevell told the court. Mellor was arrested the following day, on April 10, 2022.

In a statement read to the court, the complainant said Mellor’s offending towards her had made her feel ‘dirty,’ ‘less confident,’ like she was no longer the ‘same person’ and resulted in her ‘approaching situations in a different way’.

Ms Reevell said Mellor had initially been charged with sexual assault, relating to him touching the complainant’s breast, but prosecutors accepted a guilty plea to common assault on the day he was due to stand trial. Mellor also entered guilty pleas to two further counts of common assault at the same time.

Defending, Joy Merriam, said: “Mr Mellor accepts he was in drink on that day, he has some issues with memory and is under treatment for that.”

She continued: “He has previously demonstrated an ability to comply with community orders, so Your Honour can have confidence he would comply with future community orders.”

Ms Merriam said Mellor had asked her to advance in mitigation a reference from the manager of the new social club he now attends, stating his conduct had been ‘exemplary’ since joining.

Sentencing Mellor, Judge Graham Reeds KC said: “This was an unpleasant incident. You were in drink...[based on their experience] the complainants are entitled to form the view that you are a horrible man.”

Judge Reeds sentenced Mellor to a 12-month community order; 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement and made him the subject of a six-month curfew, running between 8pm and 6am.