Description
A man forced his way into a woman's home and sexually assaulted her before laughing afterwards.
Lewis Trueman pretended to be looking for someone when he knocked on his victim's kitchen door in Wirral.
But the 33-year-old was really hoping his victim would have sex with him and refused to take no for an answer.
A judge today said Trueman tried to force his tongue into her mouth and then his hand down her underwear.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, heard a knock at her back door one evening.
She saw it was Trueman and opened the door halfway to see what he wanted, when he asked after a mutual acquaintance.
Frank Dillon, prosecuting, said Trueman pushed the door open, forced his way in and tried to kiss the "shocked" victim.
She pushed him away and he again tried to kiss her, putting his hands around her waist, but she told him to get out.
The court heard Trueman responded: "Your fella is cheating on you, so why can't you do it with me?"
Mr Dillon said: "He tried to kiss her again and tried to force his tongue into her mouth.
"He then turned her around so that her back was against his front and tried to put one of his hands down the front of her clothes, inside her clothing.
"He only managed to get his hand around her waistband area before she pushed him away and shouted at him to leave, which he eventually did.
"However, he then said to her that he would return the following day and tell her partner that she had slept with him."
Trueman got on a bike and rode off, before the woman told a neighbour she had been sexually assaulted, and they called the police.
The victim was left with soreness in her arms, from when she had tried to get free.
Trueman was arrested and claimed he went to her home to ask if she had seen someone, before they hugged and he kissed her on the cheek.
He denied that anything happened that he would describe as sexual, until he was asked if his DNA would be on her clothing.
The court heard Trueman then admitted he had put his hand down the front of the woman's trousers, but not her underwear.
Mr Dillon said: "He said he had consumed six cans of Stella prior to the incident. It is right to say he made derogatory remarks about the victim's physical appearance."
Trueman, of Old Wood, Pensby, denied any wrongdoing and his victim was cross-examined on video ahead of a trial, before he admitted sexual assault.
In a victim personal statement, the woman said she remembered telling Trueman to stop and felt really frightened.
She described previously being happy in the home but afterwards felt unsafe and scared.
Mr Dillon said she separated from her boyfriend, "who couldn't deal with the facts of what happened to her", suffered panic attacks, felt suicidal and experienced financial difficulties as a result of moving home.
The court heard she said: "He's taken everything I had."
Trueman has 19 previous convictions for 49 offences, mainly for vehicle theft, and was last convicted in 2012 of producing cannabis.
Simon Mintz, defending, said a pre-sentence report set out Trueman's "disadvantaged start in life", which included going into care at the age of 12 in a residential school in Cumbria.
He said Trueman's mum "had her own demons", his client suffered from "severe homesickness", and later as an adult lost custody of his own children "no doubt because of the chaotic lifestyle he led".
Mr Mintz said: "One of the results of this disadvantage - this isn't an excuse and isn't put forward as one - is he seems to have missed out on any enlightenment so far as the respect that's due to women and their autonomy."
He added: "The author of the pre-sentence report encapsulates his frame of mind very well when she says he accepts responsibility for this offence, but lacks insight into the consequences of his behaviour.
"She describes his distorted thinking in relation to women, using the phrase which applies in this case of male privilege."
Mr Mintz said the unemployed ex-factory worker, who lives alone with his girlfriend, had stayed out of trouble since.
Judge Gary Woodhall said Trueman pretended he was looking for someone before he forced his way into the home, attempted to kiss the woman and tried to put one of his hands "inside her underwear", but got no further than inside her waistband.
He said Trueman eventually left "laughing", but not before he threatened to lie to her boyfriend that they had slept together.
The judge said the woman moved property because "she couldn't eradicate the memories of what you had done to her in her home".
He said: "She says what you did to her is with her all the time and you have ruined her life.
"You must understand that violating someone in the intimate way you did inside their home causes long lasting damage and harm."
The judge said in a pre-sentence report Trueman made denials and "disparaging remarks" about his victim, but "admitted finally when you went to that property you were hoping to have sex with her".
He said: "You are and were only focused on your own needs and desires."
Judge Woodhall jailed Trueman for two and a half years, told him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life, and made a five-year restraining order.