A MAN who committed the "unforgivable" offence of sexually assaulted a sleeping woman has been jailed.

Lee Colin Drury, 33,and the victim were friends but no more, said Nicola Quinney, prosecuting.

His actions affected the victim so much she self-harmed herself some days later.

She also had to take time off work.

"She hates the defendant for what he has done and never wants to see him again," she said.

Drury was aware she was in a relationship with another man.

"In drink, considerably in drink, you let your feelings run away with yourself," the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Drury.

"You violated that woman while she was asleep. It is unforgivable."

Drury, of Nursery Drive, Acomb, pleaded guilty to sexual assault at York Crown Court.

He was jailed for eight months, put on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and made subject to a restraining order for five years, banning him from any contact, direct or indirect, with the victim.

For Drury, Andrew Semple said he had committed the offence because he had been disinhibited by the amount of alcohol he had had.

He had been so drunk after the evening out, he was falling over.

Ms Quinney said Drury and the woman had been to the same school but had lost touch with each other until a few months before the offence.

The woman had allowed Drury to sleep at her home after both had spent the evening socialising and drinking with a friend.

Round about 3am or 4am she woke to find Drury kissing her and sexually assaulting her.

She pushed him off and told him to leave.

"He was crying and saying he was sorry," said the barrister.

But he didn't leave the house until she challenged him again in the morning.

Mr Semple handed in references for Drury, including from his employer and an elderly man he had helped during the lockdown.

Drury had low self-esteem and used alcohol as a crutch and at the time had been binge drinking.

He had no previous sex convictions.