Essex man walks free after admitting sex attack on woman

Joshua Bridgewater stood shame-faced in the dock as his parents heard in open court how he had sexually and emotionally abused a woman.

He had pleaded guilty to one charge of coercive and controlling behaviour and one of causing a person to engage in sexual activity.

Basildon Crown Court heard how 33-year-old Bridgewater, of Westbury Road, Southend, had forced a woman to perform a sex act on him while she was under the influence of a powerful medication. 

Leaving court - Bridgewater was said to be seeking therapy (Image: Charles Thomson)

But while the victim had been asleep when Bridgewater commenced the attack, said Judge Samantha Leigh, she had woken up partway through.

“She knew exactly what you were doing,” the judge said.

The father-of-two walked free, though, having been handed a suspended prison sentence.

He received 12 months for the coercive and controlling behaviour and six months consecutive for the sex offence. The 18-month term was suspended for 20 months.

Judge Leigh said: “You started to control every aspect of her life. You wanted to know what she was doing, who she was with, where she was going, what she was wearing, who she was talking to, what she was doing on her phone.” 

Judge Samantha Leigh said Joshua Bridgewater had forced a woman to perform a sex act on him (Image: Charles Thomson)  The court heard he had also tried to take control of the woman’s finances.

Defence barrister Kevin Toomey insisted Bridgewater’s parents were “not blind to his faults. His parents are robust in their attitude to the way he has behaved himself.”

His client – who has a prior conviction for battery – was a former car salesman who now works for his mum’s internet printing business, he said.

The had been “no recurrence of this disgraceful behaviour”, he added, and Bridgewater was privately paying for therapy.

“He knows he has done wrong,” said Mr Toomey. “He has pleaded guilty. He knows he needs to change. He knows his behaviour was appalling.”

Judge Leigh ordered Bridgewater to attend rehab sessions – which Mr Toomey said it was “screamingly obvious are needed by this young man” – and do 200 hours’ community service.

He was ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to his victim, but Judge Leigh declined to impose a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.