He was meant to be helping her - but what he did left her feeling 'dirty, disgusted and angry'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A physiotherapist has been jailed after he was caught repeatedly fondling a patient on the treatment table. Richard Hughes, 53, sexually assaulted the woman three times as she lay face down on the table after she sought help from him for her back problems.

The victim tried to shift her body during the massage in a bid to stop Hughes but eventually stood up to challenge him and noticed he was aroused.

She fled his clinic in tears and was so upset she had to stay with friends for a week. When quizzed Hughes, a former British cycling champion, said he acted out of a ''desire to punish and destroy' himself following an acrimonious divorce from his wife and claimed he needed help. READ MORE: Murder suspect who stabbed mum to death while she pushed a pram down the street is a wannabe influencer who 'vlogged' in Manchester and posted videos in Primark He also said his clinic Physio at The Lodge, in Burland, Cheshire, which he has run since 2006, would fold if he went to prison and also claimed his two children aged 20 and 18 would be forced to sell the family's £300,000 home whilst the son would have to give up his university degree.

But at Chester Crown Court, Hughes, who pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual assault, was jailed for 12 months after Judge Steven Everett accused him of telling a ''sob story'' and ''blaming everyone else except himself.'' The judge said: “The reality is it's all about him.