A Warrington man who sexually assaulted a sleeping woman and then later sent her nasty voice messages has been jailed.
Lewis Williams’ behaviour has now landed him behind bars for the first time in his life for 27 months.
A judge told the Great Sankey man that the offences were so serious that there had to be an immediate sentence of imprisonment.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the woman awoke to find Williams, 25, sexually assaulting her while sleeping at his home. He had pulled down her jogging bottoms and knickers and she was completely shocked to realise what he had done.
“She said, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ and he jumped up and said, ‘oh shit’. They then went back to sleep,” said David Watson, prosecuting.
When they woke up she confronted him and he accepted what he had done. After she left she began receiving voice messages from him, initially apologetic but as days passed they became unpleasant, said Mr Watson.
In one voice mail he called her “a vindictive bitch” and in later ones he made offensive remarks about her body and denied assaulting her, he added.
The court heard that he sent voice mails rather than texts so she could not screenshot them but she recorded the voice messages.
In an impact statement, the victim told how her sleeping and mental health had been affected and she has had to change her social life.”I felt he was making me out to be a liar.”
Williams, of Reaper Close, Great Sankey, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and sending an offensive communication.
Anthony O’Donohoe, defending, said that Williams has no previous convictions. “He clearly has deficits in his thinking. The author of the probation report says he is somewhat immature for his age.”
He added that Williams admitted that his messages had deteriorated. “It was nasty.”
Judge Anil Murray said the victim had been particularly vulnerable as she was asleep and the messages “were designed to hurt and intimidate.”
He ordered him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and imposed a five-year restraining order.
