Look Into My Thighs

A Cambridgeshire hypnotherapist was jailed last week for sexually assaulting a woman who he had placed in a trance.

Stephen Barker, 61, started treating the 31-year-old victim at his Harwick, Cambridgeshire practice in October 2008.

The victim sought hypnotherapy to help her lose weight. However over a course of ten weekly sessions, she was subjected to Barker's increasingly lewd antics.

Barker began by asking probing questions about her sex life, before suggesting that she undress and touch herself. During their final session, he forcibly removed his victim’s clothing and sexually assaulted her.
 
During this final attack, the stunned victim snapped out of her hypnotic trance and fled the scene.

However she endured three months of anguish before contacting Cambridgeshire Police in January 2009. Before coming forward, the court heard that the victim asked a search engine, ‘Is it normal for my therapist to touch me?’

Barker was jailed for 10 months at Cambridge Crown Court after admitting one count of sexual touching. The sick hypnotist was also added to the sex offender’s register for 10 years.

The court heard how Barker led his naive client to believe that sexual problems were behind her weight issues. He also encouraged her to wear revealing clothes to their meetings.

Prosecutor Andrew Howarth said, ‘[Barker] told her it was for her own good and asked her to touch her own breasts. She refused and he then used his left hand to stroke her breast and held it there for over a minute… He then used his free hand to remove her trousers and knickers and began to rub her.’

Speaking in his own defence, Barker told the court, ‘we could have had sex but I wanted to keep it professional at the moment.’

Before admitting inappropriate conduct, Barker had told the police, ‘The woman started to masturbate but there was nothing I could do to stop it.’

Lindsay Cox, mitigating, said that Barker was ‘genuinely remorseful’. She explained that at the time of the assault Barker was dealing with the break-up of his marriage. His brother had also been placed on life-support following an motorcycle accident.

Barker cried and shook during sentencing. Judge Anthony Bate recognised that during hypnosis, ‘One retains ultimate control of their actions and they do not become helpless automatons or lose awareness of what happens to them.’ However the Judge told Barker he would leave the court ‘in disgrace.’

Barker ran West Cambridge Hypnotherapy and charged £40 to £80 per hour for personal sessions.