December 2016 Teenager was left suicidal after sexual touch by church volunteer from Chester A church volunteer from Chester who touched up a co-worker when he was on duty had a medical fit in court as he was being sentenced. Michael John Bull, 71, of Hobart Way, Blacon, pleaded guilty on the first day of a trial to sexually assaulting a male. The victim was touched in the groin area by Bull who was said to have groomed him for months before the incident took place. At a sentencing hearing at Warrington Crown Court, Judge Simon Berkson handed Bull an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years and with a 20-day rehabilitation order. He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for a decade. Bull, who was said to have throat cancer, had a non-epileptic fit and was helped by court dock officers. The defendant, who also walked with a stick, apologised to his victim publicly through his barrister Barry Grennan. Mr Grennan said his client had significant health problems and would lose his property if he was sent to prison. He said Bull himself had been abused as a young person and he acknowledged he had “overstepped the mark”. Prosecutor Sarah Badrawy said Bull became a volunteer at a Chester church and became close to a man as they were on the same volunteer shift patterns. Bull was heard to often ask the victim’s girlfriend about their sex lives and to make inappropriate comments. Bull, said to have a history of sexual touching, put his hand on the groin of the victim’s trousers, feeling his penis through his clothes and leaving his hand there for some time. The man told Bull: “You shouldn’t be doing that” and Bull took his hand away. Ms Badrawy said: “He reported it to the police on September 15, 2014 and when Mr Bull was interviewed in October, he said he spoke to the victim about his sex life and ‘I got aroused’.” He answered no comment to questions and pleaded ‘not guilty’ at a previous hearing. On the day of the trial he admitted the offence. The court heard the victim suffered severely depression in the interim period. In a victim impact statement, he said: “I felt embarrassed and I thought ‘why did he do that to me?’ He was my friend. I found the process very stressful. “I was worried I would bump into him. There was a lot of upset for me and my family and I had a breakdown because I was so upset and worried. “I felt suicidal and had to stay in hospital for a week.”