William Straw (47), brother of the British Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, was yesterday convicted of indecently assaulting a 16-year-old girl. He had pleaded not guilty at Nottingham Magistrates Court to assaulting the girl at her home in the Bramcote area of Nottingham in April of this year.
District Judge Peter Nuttall found Straw guilty and fined the Open University administrator £750 plus £275 court costs.
The court heard that he had bumped into the girl, a friend of the family, while she was out shopping on April 19th this year. He asked her to come to his home to see his new dog. The girl declined saying she had GCSE revision, but a short time later Straw rang her home and repeated the offer.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court Straw then rode his bike around to her house.
Straw, a father of two, who will be placed on the sex offenders' register for five years, then invited himself in, the girl told the court.
She said: "He came in to the kitchen and asked if I was OK. I had not asked him to come in, I felt worried and nervous but I offered him a cup of tea because he is a friend of the family."
She said Straw, who is married but separated, started chatting and at one point touched part of her stomach exposed below the crop top she was wearing.
She said the pair continued to talk and Straw then asked where her bedroom was and if he could have a look.
"I started to get more worried but he was a family friend so I said yes," she told the court.
She and Straw went to the bedroom where he sat on the bed stroking it and saying how soft it was. As they left the room, the teenager said Straw turned and put his hands on her hips.
She told the court: "He started rubbing my hips and staring at my breasts. I told him he was scaring me and he seemed to snap out of a trance."
Straw then apologised and went back downstairs, leaving a short time later.
In evidence, Straw said he agreed with most of what the girl said, but he denied ever touching her. He said he had been on his own, was feeling low and was reaching out to a friendly face.