This Morning guest Michael Lousada to pay £200,000 damages over alleged sexual assault of therapy patient

Ella Janneh, who has waived her right to anonymity, brought a High Court claim against Michael Lousada over a therapy session involving “penetration” at his clinic in Belsize Park, London, in August 2016. Her lawyers told a civil trial in London earlier this year that she suffered a panic attack during the session and “did not consent to the sexual acts”.

Lousada, who has appeared as a guest on ITV daytime show This Morning, denied the allegations, claiming that the sexual activity was consensual and part of “legitimate” therapeutic activity.

Ms Janneh launched the civil claim against Lousada for personal injury and negligence after the Crown Prosecution Service said it would not pursue criminal charges in 2018. Criminal and civil cases require different standards of proof, with criminal prosecutions requiring the higher standard of “beyond reasonable doubt”, whereas civil cases can be ruled upon on “the balance of probabilities”.

The court heard Janneh only needed to prove that it was more likely than not that she did not give consent to the sexual activity, rather than prove that Mr Lousada did not reasonably believe that she did not consent.

In his judgment today (June 19), Justice Jeremy Baker said: “I am sure that as a result of the defendant having instructed the claimant to regress into her childhood persona as an abused child, and thereafter touching her in the manner in which he did during the course of the third session, caused the claimant to become dissociative.

“Such that when the defendant suggested that he would use his penis to absorb the trauma, the defendant not having asked for consent to penetrate her with his fingers, the claimant lacked capacity to consent to being penetrated with his penis. Thus, the claimant has established her primary ground of trespass to the person, namely battery.”

Lousada, who now lives in Germany, said that following the session, he recorded in his notes that he believed Ms Janneh “left feeling empowered and optimistic” and “was not obviously agitated or upset at that stage”. His barrister, David Boyle, told the court in written submissions that Lousada’s work was a “legitimate activity” even if it did not conform to “societal norms” - adding that he’d had penile penetration with 30-40 other clients too.

But Justice Baker concluded that Janneh was suffering a panic attack at the time, and “lacked capacity” to consent to what took place. He added: “Having listened with care to the defendant giving evidence in this case, I am satisfied that the scale of his confidence in his own abilities was such that his perception of reality became clouded by his sense of self-worth.

“[It was] a matter which affected not only what the defendant perceived and did during his sessions with the claimant, but also the defendant’s recollection of what had taken place, both in his written notes and in his subsequent interviews with the police, and also in his evidence in this case.”