No jail sentence after sex assault

A crown court judge accepted Jonathan Cosh, aged 24, of Days Lane, Sidcup, had "honestly misread the signals" after drinking at a party.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard how Cosh had gone to the party on December 26 last year, desperate to pick up a woman but he claimed he had misread the signals from a 34-year-old.

As other guests left the party, he went into the woman's bedroom, where she was sleeping naked and intimately fondled her.

She told the jury she was woken at about 5am on December 27 by Cosh who was touching and kissing her. She believed the man was her boyfriend.

She said: "I opened my eyes and saw it was him (Cosh) and not my boyfriend.

"I was freaked out because I had to explain to my boyfriend I had kissed a man who had got into my bed."

The court heard after leaving the woman's bedroom, Cosh went into another room, where he had sex with the woman's 14-year-old daughter.

Cosh told the court he had believed the girl was 16 and she had consented to sex.

The woman said the next morning, her daughter had told her about a "weird dream" in which Cosh was in her bed.

Cosh admitted sexually assaulting the woman but was found not guilty of raping her teenage daughter.

The court also heard a glowing report from the Parachute Regiment in which he had served for four years.

Judge Timothy Pontius told Cosh: "I have little doubt you genuinely and honestly misread the signals.

"You believed you had pulled and this was the only reason you went into the bedroom."

He went on: "I have no doubt, because you are an honourable and disciplined young man, there is no risk of this kind of thing happening again."

Judge Pontius said normally, sexually assaulting a sleeping woman merited a prison sentence.

But Judge Pontius added under the "wholly exceptional circumstances" he was suspending Cosh's 15-month prison sentence for two years and Cosh walked free from court.

Cosh was put on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years.