A Whitton businessman was found guilty of sexually assaulting a vulnerable woman with autism.

David Smith, 61, of Chertsey Road, put his hand down the woman’s trousers and kissed her on the lips on November 29, last year.

During the trial, Kingston Crown Court heard Smith met the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at the Whitton Christmas lights switch-on November 25.

He was working on a roast chestnut stall with his 33-year-old partner and arranged for the woman, who lives in supported housing, to come round for dinner.

Smith, who wears a kilt everyday despite not being Scottish, took the woman in his van while he ran some work-related errands, and it was at this time he sexually assaulted her.

The court heard Smith also lifted his kilt and asked the woman to remove her blouse to check her bra size, offering to buy her underwear.

Smith, a headstone mason, denied he put his hand down the woman’s trousers but admitted kissing her in a “reassuring way”, describing it as “the stupidest thing I have ever done”.

He said he did not ask about her bra size but admitted he did lift his kilt, which he said was to show the underpants he was wearing as a jovial gesture.

Smith told the court he believed the woman had developed a crush on him and that he placed his hand on her thigh during the journey in the van.

He said: “We were listening to Magic FM and an Abba song, Dancing Queen, came on.

“I am a big Abba fan and whenever I hear Dancing Queen I start to get tears in my eyes. We were both singing along raucously and I was carried away, I was with it, I was floating. My hand was only on her thigh for seconds and I moved it and apologised when she asked me to.”

Smith was found guilty of sexual assault on Friday, November 1, and is due to return to the same court for a pre-sentence report on Friday, November 29.