Last updated at 12:14, Saturday, 09 March 2013

A man who sexually assaulted a woman after going into her house and getting into her bed has been jailed for three years.

David Stewart, 31, who claimed he was only in the house because he thought the woman wanted to have sex with him, was also ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely.

Stewart, of Burthwaite, Wreay, near Carlisle, had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, saying he believed the woman had consented to what he was doing.

But a jury at the city’s crown court found him guilty after a trial last month.

Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Barbara Forrester told him things would have been much worse if his girlfriend had not walked in and caught him.

During the trial the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the jury she thought the man in bed with her was her boyfriend, which, she said, was why she did not struggle or say “Stop!”.

It was only when Stewart’s girlfriend came into the room, turned the light on and screamed that she realised who it was, she said.

Stewart told the jury that on the day of the assault he had been sending her “flirty” text messages after drinking a litre of vodka.

He claimed the woman’s “conversations and text messages”, allied to her body language, made him think she wanted to have sex with him.

He agreed she had sent him two texts in reply – both of which she said were “clearly negative” – but he had misunderstood them at the time.

He had gone into the woman’s house for sex, taking the fact that the door was unlocked as a sign that she wanted it too, he said.

The house was in darkness, he said, so he went upstairs and got into her bed, although she was asleep.

Defending, Stewart’s barrister Claire Thomas said he now “viewed his behaviour in a different light” and accepted he should not have done it – something he had not been prepared to accept before.

“He is obviously thoroughly ashamed of himself and is also ashamed of the affect that all this will have had not only on his victim but also on his family in a way that they simply do not deserve,” she added.

“He appreciates that binge drinking causes trouble no matter what, and as a result he has not been drinking alcohol since this incident.”

First published at 11:09, Saturday, 09 March 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk