By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 13:36, Tuesday, 24 April 2012

A man has gone on trial accused of sexually assaulting a woman as she walked back to her car in Carlisle in the early hours of the morning.

Michael John Yerkess has denied attacking the 21-year-old woman after a Halloween party at Concrete in Carlisle on October 28 last year. Yerkess, 25, of Leatham Street, off Port Road, Carlisle, has already pleaded guilty to attempting to rob the woman of her handbag.

Opening the case at Carlisle Crown Court, Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson said: “This case is many a woman’s worst nightmare. She had been out late at night and was heading towards her car that was parked in a deserted car park in Carlisle when she was sexually assaulted.

“She had been out in Carlisle with friends and had been to a house party before going to Concrete for a Halloween party. She had had nothing to drink.”

He said the woman was walking alone along Lowther Street towards a car park on Corporation Road when she became aware of someone close to her “who made her nervous”.

“As she was walking she was talking on the phone to her boyfriend,” Mr Rogerson said.

“As she took her keys out she felt a hand go up her dress and touch her on the bottom.

“She screamed and felt a hand over her mouth. She was in fear.”

Mr Rogerson says after rifling through the woman’s handbag, Yerkess ran off empty-handed.

The trial continues.

First published at 11:33, Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk