A MAN who sexually assaulted a woman after breaking into her home in the middle of the night has been jailed for four years. Michael Walton climbed into the house in Morecambe through an open window and carried out the assault while the woman slept on the sofa. Preston Crown Court heard that she woke up to find Walton, a stranger, lying on top of her.

He seemed startled when she pushed him off and he was chased out of the house. But he hung around the area and police arrested him nearby.

Peter Wright, prosecuting, told the court that Walton had many previous convictions for sexual assaults on women. In 1989, he had been jailed for five years in Sheffield for a knifepoint attack on a young woman in a telephone kiosk.

Walton, 33, of Thornton Road, Morecambe, pleaded guilty to indecent assault. Judge John Appleton told him: "You have a persistent record for indecent assault. This is a serious matter because not only did you assault this lady, but it was when she was asleep in what she thought was the safety of her own home. It is my public duty to protect women from further assaults by you."

He was ordered to register indefinitely with the police under the Sexual Offenders Act. Mr Wright told the court that the woman had fallen asleep on the sofa in the early hours of July 14. A bay window had been left open and Walton, who had been walking past, climbed through.

He said: "She felt an arm touching her. She woke up to find Walton on top of her, touching her." Tim White, defending, said Walton had pleaded guilty and saved the woman the experience of having to re-live her ordeal.

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