Woman jailed over lesbian sex attack on colleague
February 26th, 2010 by Chloe.Setter
A senior NHS manager has been sentenced to 12 months in jail for a drunken sex attack on a female colleague in a London hotel room during which she bragged “I’m better than a man”.
Teresa Cottingham, 35, who has now been fired from her role as manager at an NHS trust in Eastbourne, used a martial arts move in order to incapacitate her younger victim in a room of the Premier Inn Euston, London, where they had been staying to attend a conference.
Blackfriars Crown Court heard how the victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had helped Cottingham home in a taxi after she became “almost senseless” through alcohol.
Prosecutor Adam Davis claimed Cottingham had requested a cup of tea on returning to the hotel room, but when the victim’s back was turned, she had attempted to pull her back onto the bed.
Ignoring her colleague’s protests, Cottingham tripped her onto the bed using a Tai Kwon Do move.
She bragged to the victim: “I know what I’m doing – I’m better than a man.”
Davis continued: “The victim was grabbed by her throat. She was pushed back and every time she tried to move, her throat was squeezed harder.”
Cottingham, from Lewes, East Sussex, then performed a sex act on the victim before falling asleep, the court heard.
The medical education manager for Sussex Partnership NHS Trust, which specialises in mental health, admitted sexual assault, but denied assault by penetration. This second charge has been left to lie on file.
Judge Ian Karsten QC sentenced her to 12 months in jail, insisting that the defendant could not expect leniency on the basis that she was a woman.
He told the court that he had to impose a custodial sentence because it was a “horrid attack” that had had “long-term serious effects” on the victim.
Cottingham, who has since married a man, initially denied the sexual assault charge, claiming it was consensual, however, she changed her plea on the first day of the trial, despite not being able to recall much of what happened.
Sharon Bailey, defending, had urged the judge to suspend the custodial sentence because the attack was “completely out of character”.
A spokesman for the NHS trust said: “As soon as we were notified of this incident, we took immediate action. We will not tolerate the abuse or assault of any patient or member of staff.”
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