POLICE will monitor a man’s internet dating activity for ten years after he filmed himself sexually assaulting a woman he had met online, York Crown Court heard.

Dan Cordey, prosecuting, said the victim had no idea Andrew James Roy Johnson, 41, had groped her while she was in a drunken stupor, until police showed her the video months later.

It had been made in the aftermath of their first date when she had told him she didn’t want to do anything sexual with him.

They had met through the internet dating app Tinder.

Mr Cordey said she felt “something had been stolen from her” and “she didn’t think anything like this would happen at the hands of someone was so nice and friendly.”

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Johnson: “You fall to be sentenced for a disgraceful sexual assault on a vulnerable woman who was completely unconscious when you groped her for your own sexual gratification and recorded it.”

Defence barrister Susannah Proctor said: “He is deeply ashamed of this incident, he is truly remorseful of his actions,.”

Johnson, of Givendale Court, Givendale Road, Scarborough, pleaded guilty to sexual assault committed on November 1, 2019, and was jailed for 20 months.

He was made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order which bans him from contacting the sexual assault victim and includes controls enabling police to monitor his use of online dating apps. He was put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

Mr Cordey said police found the video on Johnson’s phone after arresting him on suspicion of raping another woman. A York jury later acquitted him of the rape, which he denied.

In a personal statement, the sexual assault victim said: “I have no idea why I became extremely drunk at his flat. I found this video extremely upsetting.”

Ms Proctor said police had investigated the cause of the sexual assault victim’s drunkenness and not found any evidence it was due to any “mischievousness” by Johnson.

He had no previous convictions and the case would prevent him returning to his earlier work as a hospital electrician.

She said Johnson claimed he had not watched the video and had no memory of making it because of his own drunkenness at the time.

“It was there on your phone,” the judge told Johnson.

He praised the detective work, with Tinder’s assistance, that had identified the sexual assault victim.

The judge said he had seen references giving Johnson a positive character.