THE former housing manager of Mid Devon District Council is facing jail after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a female employee at the local authority’s offices.

Mark Baglow was convicted of one out of six counts of sexual assault against the woman and of four more serious offences against another victim, including two rapes.

He was the group manager in charge of the council’s housing stock when he carried out the sexual assault in 2019 but has since left and is running his own business in North Devon.

He was found guilty at the end of a two-week trial at Exeter Crown Court at which three different women gave evidence against him and the prosecution alleged he was a pervert with “a sense of entitlement” towards sex.

He was cleared of three sexual assaults on a teenaged girl and two further rapes. He was also acquitted of five sexual assaults against a woman who worked in his department in the late 2010s.

The allegations of which he were cleared were that he stroked her leg as she stood by his desk and in a kitchen, simulated sex, and rubbed against her from behind. He was found guilty of touching her on a single occasion.

Baglow, aged 54, of Landkey, Barnstaple denied six counts of sexual assault while at work and was found guilty of only one of them.

He also denied but was convicted of two counts of rape and two of assault by penetration against an adult woman.

He was cleared of two further rapes against her.

He was found not guilty of three sexual assaults against a girl who was aged 16 to 18 at the time.

Recorder Mr Jaron Crooknorth adjourned sentence for six weeks and ordered a probation pre-sentence report.

He released Baglow on conditional bail. He told him an immediate jail sentence is inevitable when he returns.

Miss Virginia Cornwall, defending, said Baglow is in a stable relationship with a settled home and will be able to “put his affairs in order” and sort out the business which he runs before he starts his sentence.

During the trial, Mr Lee Bremridge, prosecuting, said an adult female who had no connection with Baglow’s work made the most serious allegations of rape against Baglow in March 2020 and police interviewed the two other complainants during their inquiry.

Officers discovered that there had been a complaint of sexual harassment against Baglow when he was working for the council which had been investigated internally.

Mr Bremridge said the former council employee made her complaint to the council before the other allegation came to light and gave further details during a video-recorded police interview after Baglow’s arrest in 2020, by which time she no longer worked for the council.

He said: “She told the police there were several times when he touched her inappropriately or sexually.

“It began by him brushing against her. The first substantial thing happened when she took some letters to him and he grabbed her leg and squeezed.

“He made a comment, asking if this is what pole dancer’s legs feel like; a reference to her training to be a fitness instructor. Nothing more happened for a few months and then his behaviour started again.

“She described his oversexualised views and sense of entitlement in which he felt he could touch her whenever he wanted. On one occasion he came up behind her, put his hands around her and simulated sex.

“He put his hand inside her top twice, once touching her boob over the top of her bra and on the other touching the breast itself.”

Baglow denied all the allegations and said all the women had made them up. He denied being a pervert or oversexed. Asked if he had assaulted the employee at the council offices, he replied “No I didn’t. She has made it up.”