A DEBT collector who turned up at the wrong house in Burnley groped a shocked female householder on the doorstep, a court heard.

And when Neil Highfield, 71, had finished molesting his victim he told her she should lock the door behind him, Burnley Crown Court was told.

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Highfield, of Reedfield, Reedley, had denied a charge of sexual assault but was convicted by a jury after a three-day trial.

Judge Simon Newell sentenced him to a community order with an electronically-monitored curfew for three months.

Highfield must also pay £900 in compensation to his victim, and £900 costs.

Prosecutor Judith McCullough said that the victim was in the bathroom and heard a knock at the door. The victim thought it might be a friend of hers but she was met by the defendant.

He asked if a “Miss Hussain” lived at the address and explained that he was a debt-collection officer.

But the female householder, who was still brushing her teeth, said she was not the woman he was seeking and offered to provide some identification as proof.

Highfield is alleged to have told her: “I was looking for another girl but I have found you now”, before starting to stroke her arm.

Miss McCullough said he then used his fingers to draw circles around the victim’s breasts, leaving the woman dumbfounded.

He stepped inside the threshold and hugged her, said Miss McCullough.

The court heard he continued to stare at her before squeezing her left breast and then leaving the property, telling her to make sure she closed and locked the door behind him.

The victim immediately rang 999 and a short while later police arrived, though Highfield had driven away. But the woman had managed to take down his registration number and he was traced by officers.

Arrested and interviewed the next day, he accepted he had visited the victim’s home, in the Stoneyholme area of the town.

But Highfield denied acting improperly, insisting that at most he may have squeezed her fingers to reassure her.

He told police that before he left she had asked him whether there was anything more she could do for him and he wondered, walking away, whether this was some sort of sexual invitation, the court heard.

Questioned further, Highfield could not elaborate on why the woman may have been making a sexual reference towards him.