A sick yoga teacher molested a teenage girl after he invited her to a health spa for a massage. Philip Bannister, 65, groped the young girl under her bra after suggesting that she took her clothes off and lay down on a bed.
Bannister, described as a 'pillar of the community' by those who knew him, also carried out a 'sexualised' photoshoot with the girl, 13, getting her to pose and pout for the camera, Lancs Live reports.Judge Guy Mathieson, sentencing, told him: "You became obsessed with her and attracted to her." Bannister, of Darwen, has been handed a 20-month sentence suspended for two years.
David Traynor, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court Bannister's victim was known to him. When Bannister invited the girl for a spa day, she thought it would be 'a giggle', the judge said.
Bannister draped a towel over the youngster and massaged her lower and upper legs, before moving onto her back. He then said he would massage the girl's stomach, but went on to molest her.