A MARRIED council worker, who swapped messages with a woman while pretending to be an airline pilot, went to her house to give her a massage because he wanted to repay her for making him feel good, a court heard.

Peter Ferguson used fake pictures to start a discussion with a woman on dating app Bumble telling her he worked for British Airways and his name was Matt.

The conversation moved to the telephone and Whatsapp and he told her he had booked a session with a friend who was a competent masseur.

Ferguson himself then arrived at the woman’s home in Colchester - saying his name was Steve - to perform the massage and is said to have twice sexually assaulted her.

He denies the charges.

Giving evidence at Chelmsford Crown Court, Ferguson said he had not used the massage as an excuse to meet the woman as he knew he could never do so in any other way because he was not actually who he said he was.

He said: “I didn’t want to engineer anything, I just wanted to help her out.

“I didn’t want to seize on the moment - I thought I could do something nice.

“I was getting enjoyment from talking to her and I wanted to give something back.”

The court heard Ferguson - a Colchester Council zone manager - began using dating sites last year after difficulties in his family and work life.

He used his own photos on a site called Fab Swingers but told the court there had been little interest from women.

The 43-year-old then moved onto Bumble where he used photos of a stranger he found on Facebook and started speaking to the woman.

He said some of the messages included “sexual banter” and accepted he sent pictures of a penis which he also found online.

When asked how the discussions made him feel, he told the court: “It made me feel really good about myself and helped me get through the day.”

Ferguson said he invented another character called Steve to give the massage because he didn’t want his wife to know but denied he went to the house intent on anything sexual happening.

He denies touching the woman inappropriately saying he only moved a towel covering her body to continue the massage and added he never told her he was a professional masseur.

He said: “At no point did I touch her inappropriately at all. At no point did I remove the towel from her body. At no stage did I say I was a professional masseur.”

Ferguson, of Keelers Way, Great Horkesley, said he had no intention of cheating on his wife.

  • n The trial continues.