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A randy pensioner who groped a trucker after he mistook a lay-by for a gay hook-up spot has been convicted of sex assault.

Dennis Cockerill, 82, stopped at the Skipbridge lay-by in Hammerton Green, near Harrogate, looking for "a bit of fun", a court heard.

He approached the victim, a burly lorry driver in his 40s, believing he was also a sex cruiser, York Crown Court was told.

But Cockerill was misinformed, and the Yorkshire trucker had stopped in the lay-by to load some pig feed onto another wagon.

Prosecutor Paul Newcombe told a jury how Cockerill got up on the step at the side of the victim's cab and began chatting him up, before reaching through an open window and touching him on the arm, his knee and then his crotch.

The horrified trucker nudged the lustful pensioner away and called the police, who turned up and arrested Cockerill.

Cockerill, from Kent, told officers he’d heard a rumour that the lay-by was used as a meeting placed for gay men and he wanted to “verify” this.

Police charged him with sexual assault but Cockerill, of Cannongate Avenue, Hythe, denied the allegation.

(Image: PA)

Cockerill appeared for trial at York Crown Court on Thursday, when prosecuting barrister Paul Newcombe said the smartly-dressed pensioner had been in North Yorkshire for a shareholders’ meeting in York and was on his way back home when he stopped at the lay-by and spotted the trucker.

“He asked him about the bunk in his lorry and touched the lorry driver twice on the arm and touched him on his knee, then moved his hand up and touched him on his crotch, on or near his testicles,” said Mr Newcombe.

“(The victim) was surprised, to say the very least, and nudged the defendant away. He (Cockerill) said, ‘I’m sorry about that, I thought you fancied a bit of fun’.

“The lorry driver clearly wasn’t up for a bit of fun at all and contacted police. The defendant told them he’d heard (the lay-by) was one of the many places in the UK where homosexuals meet and wanted to verify this.”

Mr Newcombe added: “The lay-by is not a notorious meeting spot for gay men. It has a perfectly legitimate use, which is to park up and wait. But the defendant wasn’t there to play scrabble – he was there for some sort of sexual meeting.”

The prosecutor said, however, that it was only a case of sexual touching and the sexual-assault charge was something of a “misnomer”.

The trucker said he initially thought the pensioner wanted directions to somewhere when he approached him at about 5pm on September 24, 2013.

“He asked me about the bunk (bed) in the back of the truck and within minutes the hand came through,” he told the court.

“He touched my thigh near my knee then slid straight up and made contact with my privates. I said I suggest you go away. I humoured him at first because he was old and I have a lot of respect for old people.”

The jury found Cockerill guilty of sexual assault. Judge Jacqueline Davies adjourned sentence for a probation report.

Cockerill was bailed until the sentence hearing but Ms Davies told him he would have to sign on the sex offenders’ register.