A SELF-TAUGHT hypnotist who sexually abused a married mother is facing a prison sentence.

Timothy Porter exposed himself and made his patient touch herself during what was supposed to be a weight-loss session at her home.

The startled victim is said to have woken from a trance after something touched her neck and saw the 40-year-old exposing himself.

Fitness fanatic Porter, a former serviceman who was based at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, claims to be a self-taught hypnotist.

He had half-a-dozen treatment sessions with the mother-of-three after telling her he could help her lose weight last year.

Prosecution papers reveal that Porter’s conduct and conversations became “sexualised” at an early stage of their dealings.

In December, during a visit to the woman’s home in North Yorkshire, while her children slept upstairs, he put her into a hypnotic trance.

She contacted police after “waking” to find him with his trousers down and ordering her to touch herself.

Porter, now of Ouseburn Road, Blackburn, admitted causing a person to engage in sexual activity when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court.

He will be sentenced next month after background reports have been prepared by probation workers, and was given bail until then.

The court papers reveal that he was due to leave the RAF around the time of the offence.

Porter claims that nothing sexual happened during the visits to his victim’s home in the year leading up to the offence.

After he admitted the charge, an interim order was made for him to sign on the sex offenders’ register. The length of the registration will depend upon his sentence next month.

A source said: “It was when she was hypnotised that he started to become a bit more lewd.

“He said there was nothing sexual in the lead-up to the one incident, but her account is there was some untoward behaviour.

“There are no other suspicions about his conduct. It is simply not known if there are other clients, but he did bill himself as an amateur hypnotist.”

Detective Constable Graeme Bevington described Porter’s hypnotism as “purely a hobby” he practised while reaching the rank of corporal in the RAF.

The detective said: “He told us he had performed hypnosis on other people. I don’t think he has any qualifications, if there are formal qualifications.

“He said he had been practising and teaching himself for a number of years. It is never something he has done as a profession. I was purely a hobby.”

Speaking about the victim, Det Con Bevington said: “She is okay. She is pleased it is over and done with and is now looking forward to moving on.

“She is pleased he has been taken to court and brought to justice for what he has done, because she feels he has abused her trust.

“She was quite nervous about the court process and having to face him in court and give evidence if he had not pleaded guilty and if it had been a trial.”