Drunk Woman Spared Jail After Sexually Assaulting Man Celebrating Cancer All-Clear at Dorset Hotel

Samantha Williamson

A drunk woman who sexually assaulted a man at a luxury riverside hotel while he celebrated his cancer all-clear and 40th wedding anniversary with his wife has avoided jail. Samantha Williamson, 44, from Salisbury, staggered from the bar of the Captain’s Club Hotel & Spa in Christchurch, Dorset, and approached the couple during their dinner.

Williamson, described as “acting like a woman possessed,” sat on the man’s lap and told him, “I want to sit on your big bamboo.” The shocked husband immediately pushed her away as his wife told her to leave. Williamson then swiped drinks and a candle from the table, soaking the victim’s wife, before the man stood up to move her away. Both fell to the floor during the scuffle, where Williamson spat at him and scratched his face, drawing blood.

Samantha Williamson staggered across to the couple's table at the Captain's Club Hotel & Spa in Christchurch, Dorset

The incident ruined the couple’s £1,200 celebratory weekend and left them deeply traumatised. In a victim statement, the man said: “I had received the all-clear for my cancer and thought it was a great way to celebrate 40 years together. Instead we were met with a drunk, aggressive, very vicious young lady through no fault of our own.”

The court heard Williamson had been drinking heavily after arguing with a man at the bar and became increasingly abusive to other guests. Before the assault, the couple had even offered to call her a taxi, but she refused.

Prosecutor Victoria Hill told Poole Magistrates’ Court that Williamson deliberately pushed herself onto the man, was verbally abusive, and then lashed out when rejected. The victim said police officers took Williamson home instead of arresting her on the night, claiming she would have been treated differently had she been a man.

Williamson (pictured outside court) 'acted like a woman possessed' and spat at the man and scratched him, drawing blood

Williamson admitted sexual assault. Her lawyer, James Moore, said she felt “pure regret” and “embarrassment,” explaining that she had turned to alcohol after distress over her partner’s plans to relocate and struggles linked to a past abusive relationship. He described alcohol as her “kryptonite” and confirmed she was receiving counselling.

District Judge Paul Booty said: “This was a gentleman out with his wife trying to celebrate their anniversary and dealing with a nasty illness. Taking everything into account, this is serious enough for a community penalty.” He handed Williamson a six-month community order with an electronically monitored curfew between 8pm and 6am and ordered her to pay £1,000 compensation to the victim.

After the hearing, the victim said he was considering a private prosecution for the assault element of the case. “It was very traumatising. I paid £1,200 for the weekend, we were celebrating 40 years together and the fact that I had been given the all-clear. We wouldn’t come back again because of this,” he said, adding that if he had behaved the same way, he would have been placed in a cell overnight.