Former darts world champion Ted Hankey has been jailed for two years after pleading guilty to one count of sexual assault.

The 54-year-old pinned the young woman down and sexually assaulted his victim with an “air of entitlement”, Chester Crown Court heard.

Judge Steven Everett, Recorder of Chester, said Hankey would have continued denying the offence “to the bitter end” it the attack had not been caught on film.

The court had heard that the two-time darts world champion had “flatly denied” any wrongdoing and “expressed amazement” at the allegation when he was first arrested.

However, he stopped talking and refused to answer any more questions when detectives told him the attack had been caught on camera.

The footage was played to the judge after the courtroom had been cleared of public and press.

Hankey, of Stoke-on-Trent, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to one count of sexual assault on 10 September last year in Crewe, Cheshire.

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While passing sentence, Judge Everett told him: “You genuinely believed nobody would believe her, until you were shown the damning evidence.

“The nature of what you did, the fact that you pinned her down, that air of entitlement… You treated her as an object for your own disgusting and deviant sexual desires.

“Your self-pity about the loss of status and ability to earn money – I’m sure you will never play darts again on television.”

Nicknamed “The Count”, Hankey won the BDO World Championship in 2000 and 2009.

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