A SEXUAL predator groped a woman before telling her he needed to have sex before his wedding day and asking her if she was ‘up for it’.

Ian McShane was sentenced to one year in prison at Bolton Crown Court yesterday for sexually assaulting a woman in his home in Crowland Road, off Crompton Way, in Bolton, on May 22 this year.

McShane, aged 65, admitted the offence at a hearing last month.

The court heard how McShane was due to get married when the attack took place and has since done so.

Tim Greenall, prosecuting, told the court that the victim was sat on a settee at McShane’s house when he pinned her down by her shoulders.

McShane then sexually assaulted her.

His victim was too scared to fight him off as she feared doing so may escalate the situation.

McShane then grabbed her hand and directed it towards his groin before the woman said ‘no’ and managed to free herself from McShane.

He then told her that he needed to have sex before his wedding day and asked her ‘are you up for it’?

She then managed to leave the house.

Tim Greenall, prosecuting, said: “She described being shaken and scared that he may expose himself during this incident.”

In a victim personal statement, the woman said she struggles to sleep at night as a result of the attack and that she was initially too scared to tell anyone what had happened.

The court heard that she eventually confided in a friend about the incident.

She was concerned about seeing McShane in the street and before she went to the police station, went to a nearby cafe to get up the confidence to report it.

The court heard how McShane received two convictions in the 1970s, one in 1977 where he indecently assaulted a woman in the street and another in 1988 where he raped a 19-year-old woman after dragging her into some bushes.

Mark Friend, defending McShane, said that the defendant has a problem with alcohol and that he struggled to believe he had acted like this.

He added that what McShane did was ‘appalling’ and that he must be punished for it, but asked for credit for his guilty plea.

Judge Timothy Stead, when sentencing McShane, said that he has a "significant record of offending" and that the 1977 assault was a "predatory attack on a young female".

He added that when McShane seeks sexual gratification he "does not care about the interests of his victim".

Judge Stead gave McShane a restraining order to stop him contacting his victim and placed him on the sex offenders register for 10 years.