Court convicts US political consultant of groping passenger

A London court has found an American political consultant who worked on Ben Carson's 2016 presidential campaign guilty of groping a fellow passenger on a trans-Atlantic flight last month.

Samuel Pimm was convicted of sexual assault Monday following a trial at Ealing Magistrates' Court. He denied touching his female accuser. Prosecutors say the 62-year-old consumed several alcoholic drinks on the Washington to London flight before he put his hands on a woman in the adjacent seat.

The woman testified that she was trying to sleep when she felt Pimm touching her arm and breast, then moving toward her crotch. His lawyer suggested she might have been dreaming.

 

Pimm, of Virginia, was fined 720 pounds (USD 930) and ordered to pay 952 pounds (USD 1,231) in compensation and costs.