Council caretaker jailed after sex attack on 78 year old woman

A council caretaker who launched a sex attack on a 78-year-old woman in her home has been locked up.

Malcolm McDonald had been drinking "all day" before he targeted the widow, while she was in bed and asked her: "Are you not enjoying it?" 

Newcastle Crown Court heard the pensioner told him "I'm damn sure I'm not" but McDonald, who had started to pull down his trousers, asked if she wanted to engage in further sexual activity before he finally left. 

The shaken victim then cried herself to sleep. 

It was a few days before the horrified pensioner, who lived alone, told a nurse what had happened to her and the police became involved. 

A scientific examination of inside the woman's pyjama top found McDonald's DNA, in saliva. 

McDonald, 49, of Slatyford Lane, Newcastle, who has never been in trouble before, admitted sexual assault. 

Judge Gavin Doig sentenced him to two-and-a-half years behind bars and said McDonald acted in an "utterly depraved manner". 

The judge told him: "This was an utterly appalling and disgraceful piece of behaviour on your part." 

McDonald, who has never been in trouble before, must now sign the sex offenders register for life. 

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The victim said in an impact statement: "This has left me extremely upset. 

"I feel so vulnerable now. I feel my trust in people is no longer what it used to be. 

"This was an absolutely awful experience and the shock of what happened took me a couple of days to disclose it."

She added: "I will never fully get over it."

The woman's nurse said in a statement: "She was an independent woman, despite having health issues, she would go out and didn't like to rely on help from anyone. 

"When she was assaulted she became scared to go out." 

Peter Sabiston, defending, said McDonald lost his job after the attack and moved back in with his mother. 

Mr Sabiston said McDonald has reduced his drinking and stayed out of trouble since the offence and added: "His recollection of events is somewhat blurred by consumption of alcohol.

"This was an abhorrent act. He is deeply ashamed and embarrassed by it. He has struggled to come to terms with why he ever did it."