THE victim of a sex assault has bravely spoken out after a man from Urmston was convicted at Manchester Magistrates Court.

The woman, who did not wish to be named, spoke to the Messenger after Attique Ur-Rehman, was convicted of the assault of the woman for which he received a six month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Rehman, 54, of Norwich Road, Stretford, was also ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work, sign the sex offender register, pay compensation of £100, with £115 victim surcharge and costs totalling £620.

The woman told the Messenger that she had come into contact with Rehman after receiving a friend request from him on Facebook.

She said: "I checked his profile before accepting and noticed that he ran a crystal/jewellery shop (Woodalo) and a healing/massage centre (Shanti Healing Centre), which I have an interest in and visited his shop a few times.

"On arrival he was always very affectionate and made me feel special. He said he'd been waiting for so long to meet me in person. He hugged me close and for a good few minutes which felt unusual. I just assumed he was a very nice old man."

In July of last year, the woman was taken to the healing centre, which was a small room in a premises, close to the Woodalo shop on Gloucester Road.

The sexual assault took place after he ordered the woman to lie on a massage couch where he began asking about her sex life and touching her inappropriately, after which she brought the massage session an abrupt halt, before later calling police to complain.

She added: "Since the incident I realise I was groomed by him for eight months and I have lost so much confidence and feel my self worth has been affected.

I don't like to go out alone and I find it difficult to trust people. I feel extremely sad that I trusted this person and thought I had found a friend. I am, however, proud that I spoke out for myself and stood up to him in court."