Doctor's play

The married mother-of-two said Stuart Hill, who was supposed to be massaging her feet, touched her intimately on the breasts and inside her thigh during treatment.

The woman, who is in her late 50s, turned to reflexology because she was in pain following an operation on her thigh bone.

She told Durham Crown Court of her first meeting with Mr Hill six or seven years ago at his surgery at Neville's Cross, near Durham City.

She said: "He gave me confidence that he could help me. He said he believed in treating the whole body, a holistic way of treatment.

"He would be massaging my shoulders and head. He asked if that was okay and I said it was."

It was only during the third session that things turned more sinister, the woman told the jury.

She was told to strip to her underwear and lie on a bed covered up by a towel.

"This time he said he would massage my leg. His hand came right up to my pants," the woman said.

"I didn't feel him touch me but he must have been near enough to feel my pants.

"I was more uncomfortable than scared. I was embarrassed.

"His hand should not have been there and there was no reason for it.

"All he said was that he was going to massage my hip where I had the operation."

The woman says she told Hill to stop the massage because it was painful - as she did not want to admit she felt uncomfortable.

"You're in a room on your own with a man and you feel a bit embarrassed," she said.

Hill then started to massage her shoulders and it was then that he touched her breasts and nipples.

"He just went down as far as my nipples. I just put my hand up and pushed his hands away," she said.

Asked by prosecutor Amanda Rippon how she felt about this, the woman replied: "I was in this room with a pretty big man and I was worried that he may think 'in for a penny, in for a pound' and he may go a bit further.

"So I just wanted to get out before it got too awkward."

The woman said she did not make a complaint to the police about Hill, who ran Meridian Massage, until last year because she felt too embarrassed as it would be her word against his.

Hill, 57, of Brandon, near Durham City denies six charges of sexual assault, two of assault by penetration and one of indecent assault.

Yesterday, the jury heard that Hill told female patients he was using the latest Chinese massage technique to make them better.

The "hormone therapy", which he said was banned in the UK, involved placing a vibrating massager on an intimate part of the patient's body.

Hill claimed this would make the victims aroused and "orgasmic" and it would make them feel better.

The defendant also claimed he could tell whether a patient had cancer by inspecting their feet for lymph nodes.