A lorry driver has been banned from a pub after wiping his own excrement on two women when they were enjoying an evening drink.

Mark Follos, 51, who was found guilty of smearing two women with faeces deliberately at a Ramsbottom pub, denied the allegations.

He said: “Do you think I look like the sort of person who goes around smearing people with muck?”

At a trial at Bury Magistrates' Court, a court heard that on October 25, 2012, one victim was left with a ‘four inch smear’ on her arm.

Both incidents took place at The Oaks pub on Bridge Street, the court heard.

Follos, from Wolverhampton, regularly travelled between Ramsbottom and Scotland for a driving contract and often visited local pubs.

On October 12, 2012, the first victim said that Follos had approached her and briefly spoke to her before rubbing her arm.

She said: “I don’t recall what he said and he did a movement as if rubbing his hands on my arm.”

The woman added that she initially thought that the man was trying to rub drugs on her arm.

She sobbed in the dock as she described the incident as ‘very strange’.

The victim, who was wearing a sleeveless top at the time, said: “I realised what it was on my arm- it was poo.

“I looked at it, touched it and smelled my hand.”

When the woman was asked how she felt afterwards, she said: “I thought I must have upset someone.”

Follos admitted that he had gone to the bathroom and passed a ‘motion’. In a statement to the police he said: “As it goes down it’s got to come out.”

Follos said that he had not washed his hands and that he had touched the first victim's arm as he told her to ‘have a good night’. He said that he was ‘just being courteous’.

Follos denied smearing the woman intentionally. He denied that the second incident happened.

But on October 25, 2012, the court heard that Follos struck again when he smeared another victim. The second victim told of a similar experience.

She said that Follos had grabbed her arm and asked her if she would like a drink.

She said: “Then he left and that’s when I could smell something so I thought his hand maybe wasn’t so clean.”

The court heard that her friend wiped her arm and saw that the substance was ‘discoloured’ and they realised that it was faeces.

After the trial, the first victim, who asked not to be named, said: “It was quite embarrassing to tell people.

“I’m glad he’s not going to do it to anyone else.”

Follos was banned from the Oaks pub for a year. He was also ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and pay a total of £1,010.

Also by Nicola Bartlett

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