A fashion consultant who molested a teenager and sexually assaulted her in his car was jailed for five years on Friday.

Mark Sunshine, a 50-year-old from Borehamwood, groped the girl on several occasions when he gave her driving lessons and carried out a sex assault on her after he picked her up in a drunken state from a party.

Prosecutor Barnaby Shaw told St Albans crown court that the victim is now aged 21 and made a complaint to the police about the man's behaviour last year.

She said Mr Sunshine had engaged in telephone banter with her and on one occasion sent her an image of a penis over the phone. He told police it was not his and was a picture he found on Google.

Sunshine said he had sent her the image after he had received a photo of her wearing a bra. 

Mr Shaw told the jury that he offered to give the teenager driving lessons and would put his hand down her top and grope her breasts while she was trying to drive, adding that when giving her a lift home from a party, he stopped and put his hand up her dress.

At a trial last month Sunshine, of Furzehill Road, Borehamwood, denied two sample charges of sexual assault between October 2009 and October 2010.

He also pleaded not guilty to assault by penetration between January 31, 2011 and March 1, 2011 but was convicted by the jury of all charges after five hours and 33 minutes of deliberations and was remanded in custody to Bedford jail.

Sunshine said he had never sexually assaulted the teenager and denied that there had been any consensual relationship.

Dee Connolly, defending, said Sunshine still did not accept the offences, adding he was a "good, hard-working family man" who was supported in court by his wife and other members of his family.

She said: "The stigma of this conviction will shape his future. He has lost his job. He is a broken man and his reputation is ruined. He is on the segregation wing at Bedford prison and is finding it difficult and has been placed on anti-depressants.”

Judge Stephen Warner told him: "When she complained, you belittled her and persisted. You showed a total disregard for her wishes and intentions.

"You showed a lack of insight and remorse and you see yourself as the victim."