'Arrogant' physiotherapist sexually assaulted patient who came to him for help with knee pain

Robert Merfyn Williams, of Pensfold, Bicton Heath, was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Friday (January 24) after being found guilty of one count of sexual assault following a trial last December.

Williams had operated a physiotherapy business on Mardol in Shrewsbury for a number of years.

Mr James Dunstan, prosecuting, told the court that Williams, 66, had a longstanding professional relationship with the victim in the case, who had been seeing him for a number of years.

He explained that the offence had taken place during a professional appointment at the business premises during a coronavirus lockdown in 2020.

The victim had been suffering pain in her knee and had attended for treatment.

Mr Dunstan said: "Of course it was unusual because the building where he worked was almost empty, as was Shrewsbury centre generally, and it was in those circumstances that after a period of normal treatment you heard that his hand moved to the top of her leg."

The court heard that Williams, whose hands were described as being covered in massage oil, rubbed his hand over the victim's vagina for 'four to five seconds'.