A MIDDLE-AGED man sexually assaulted a terrified teenager during a train journey to Maryport after effectively “trapping her” beside a window.

Dale Alderson’s lewd behaviour towards the 17-year-old girl was branded “downright creepy” by a Carlisle Crown Court judge, who revealed how the 45-year-old defendant’s boast to the girl about his life serving with Army special forces was a lie.

The former Army cadet quit his military career before it began when he was 18 after his basic training.

Alderson, formerly living at New Street, Southwram, Halifax, who was visiting relatives in Maryport at the time of his offence, denied two counts of sexual assault.

He was found guilty after a trial. Prosecutor Tim Evans summarised the facts.

Alderson approached the girl and began talking to her as she waited for the day's last Maryport train at Carlisle Railway Station. It 8.30pm, on a dark February evening in 2022, and Alderson was "pretty drunk," said Mr Evans.

Telling the teenager he was ex-special forces, he asked if he could chat to her on the train, initially sitting opposite her. During the journey, he became increasingly angry, annoyed by another passenger’s views on the war in Ukraine.

He claimed that he had “killed people” while he was in the Army, said Mr Evans. “The [victim] began to feel increasingly uncomfortable,” said the barrister.

At one point, Alderson said he wanted to shake hands, but he grabbed the girl’s hand and kissed it instead. He told her she was beautiful, and asked to take a selfie photo with her, moving to the seat next to her.  

Alderson also showed her a topless picture of the singer Pink. “She was, in effect, trapped against the window,” said Mr Evans.

It was at this point that he deliberately moved his elbow against the teenager’s chest but instead of pulling away, he made an inappropriate personal comment.

When a female train guard tried to intervene, Alderson was angry, asking if the woman was implying he was a “nonce.”

A short time later, the teenager grabbed her bags and ran to the train’s toilet, locking herself in. She was found there soon afterwards, "in floods of tears" and reporting to train staff that she was sexually assaulted.

She described the experience as terrifying.

Gerard Rogerson, defending, said Alderson's foremost concern was his use of alcohol and he was determined to address this. “This was an incident in which alcohol was a factor,” said the barrister.

Alderson had no previous sexual convictions, said Mr Rogerson, adding: “He’s already suffered a backlash on social media.”

Judge Michael Fanning said Alderson did not accept he did anything wrong and viewed his conduct towards women as “generational” issue to do with attitudes to women. But a man in his 40s telling a young girl she was “fit” was inappropriate.

No [sensible] person would consider such conduct towards a young girl, travelling alone at night, to be appropriate, said the judge. Alderson had bragged about his time in the forces as some sort of ‘Mr Big’ soldier.

“But what was your military background?” said the judge.

“It was the Army Cadets and then basic training and not passing out because it wasn’t for you. This impression of some longstanding military career came to an end when you were 18 or 19.

“You were bigging yourself up, a 40-year-old man to a 17-year-old girl… This was a 40-year-old who pushed himself alongside a 17-year-old girl.

“Frankly, it’s downright creepy.”

Girls and women were entitled to go out and board a train in the evening without being molested, said the judge.

Judge Fanning described Alderson as a “sexist bigot,” who needed to address his “dinosaur” attitudes to women. “You were drunk, and you specifically targeted this girl; she was vulnerable,” pointed out the judge.

But ruling that Alderson is capable of being rehabilitated, Judge Fanning imposed a 26-week jail term, suspended for 18 months. The sentence includes 15 rehabilitation activity days and a 16 week 8pm to 7am curfew.

Alderson was also put on the Sex Offender Register for seven years and given a two year restraining order, which forbids any contact with, or approach to, the victim. “The real sentence is that the public knows about what you did,” added the judge.