French hotel night watchman sexually assaults British girl, 17, after believing he had charmed her while she was on holiday with her parents

Published: 06:05 EDT, 8 October 2026 | Updated: 06:06 EDT, 8 October 2026 A hotel night watchman in France has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old British girl while she was on holiday with her family.The 46-year-old was arrested in June after he was accused of assaulting the teenager in Dijon. The teenager, who was holidaying in the historic French city, had gone out into the hotel corridor to talk on the phone at around 2am when she crossed paths with the watchman. The hotel employee admitted to the act, but told a court in Dijon that he believed he had 'charmed' the British teenager. 'I regret going up the stairs that night, but I heard a noise, and I'm sorry I could have thought I might have charmed a 17-year-old girl.' 'I am not a monster,' he added. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Monday. The watchman appeared in court in August and requested to be released, but judges decided to keep him in pretrial detention. The incident happened in the French town of Dijon (file image)The assault of a British tourist in France comes a year after a UK woman was repeatedly raped by a taxi driver following a night out with friends in Paris. The alleged attack took place in Bois de Boulogne last March. Local cops were alerted to the incident in the early hours of the morning by a resident who said they had stumbled across the woman 'crying and in a state of shock'.Police rushed to the woman's aid, with the alleged victim claiming she had ordered a taxi home the night before.She had just spent the previous evening with her friends out in Paris.According to local reports, the taxi driver picked the woman up in the capital before driving her to Bois de Boulogne and raping her several times.Police were informed by the Brit that the alleged attack had only ended after the woman had managed to escape the parked car and run into a nearby garden, a source told the French newspaper.The man had found the terrified woman in the morning and immediately called the police.The victim was treated by officials from the Paris fire service and taken to the Garches hospital for routine checks.The horrific incident comes after a 34-year-old British tourist was raped after being drugged in a Paris bar in August, 2024.The woman, who was not named, was found by her friends who had reported her missing from a night out in the French capital on August 30.She had gone to dinner that night and took one of the group to a hookah bar in the 16th arrondissement at around 4am the following morning after being invited by a man they had met that night.She told police that her next memory was waking up in an unfamiliar room, before realising she had been raped, according to local media.Just a month prior, harrowing security footage revealed the moment a visibly distressed Australian woman sought refuge inside a Paris kebab shop after being gang raped – only to be confronted by one of the men who had assaulted her minutes earlier.French authorities launched a major investigation into the brazen attack, which took place in the early hours of July 20, 2024, in the northern Pigalle district, just days before the Olympics began.The woman, 25, had spent the night before drinking in the bars and clubs around the Moulin Rouge cabaret before the men approached her in an unspecified location.She told police she was set upon by a pack of five men 'of African appearance' and brutally raped at about 5am before escaping and seeking safety in the nearby Dounia kebab shop.