A bus driver has denied groping a female passenger after parking outside her home and going inside for a cup of tea. Michael Newton, aged 60, allegedly tried to kiss the woman and touched her breast after telling her how he was feeling lonely and in need of company. He had picked up the woman with her children on the outskirts of Cullompton and refused to take her fare. He offered a free ride and took her to her door because there were no other passengers on the bus. The woman asked him in for a cup of tea out of politeness and expected him to refuse and carry on his Dartline bus route, Exeter Crown Court was told. She was surprised when he accepted her offer and shocked when he pressed a piece of paper with his phone number into her hand and hugged her. She told a jury he went on to try to kiss her and then groped her as she pushed him away. He denies any sexual assault and says the contact was accidental as he brushed past her on his way out. Newton, of Maunders Hill, Otterton, denies sexual assaulting the woman on February 18 when he was working for Clyst St Mary-based Dartline Buses. Lee Bremridge, prosecuting, said the woman was on her way home from a picnic with her children when she boarded a bus near Tesco for the 15-minute ride home. She offered to pay but Newton refused her fare and offered to take her to her door rather than at a bus stop at the end of her road. He told her his wife had died and he was lonely. Mr Bremridge said: "By this time other customers had got off and as she left the bus she thanked him and invited him in for tea, never thinking he would take her up on the offer. "He said he had time for a cup and parked the bus and she felt obliged to invite him in. She felt a bit awkward. As they talked in the kitchen she began to feel uncomfortable at the way he was looking at her. "He put his cup of tea on the worktop and took her left hand and put a piece of paper into it and said she could use it if she wanted to talk or needed company. "He then grabbed her and tried to hug her. She pushed him back and he put his hands on the side of her face and tried to kiss her. She says he made contact with her lips before she turned away. She says he then grabbed her breast. "Our case is that this was deliberate touching in a way which was intentional and sexual. We say he took the opportunity to sexually assault her." The woman rang her husband and the bus company and the police were called in. They were able to trace Newton because he was the driver on that route and had left his mobile number on the piece of paper he pressed into her hand. He told police he had stopped and gone into the house and gave her his number in case she wanted him to do gardening work. He said the only physical contact was accidental and happened when his hand brushed past her as he turned back from putting his dirty cup into the sink.
