A TEENAGER has avoided prison after "trying it on" with a sleeping woman after drunkenly wandering into her Bideford home.

Cyril Jury, 19,was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years, at Exeter Crown Court last Wednesday .

He had been convicted of sexual assault, at his second retrial over the incident, which happened in March last year.

The "shocked" woman had awoken to find Jury, who was only an acquaintance, standing by her bed and stroking her thigh, before he fled.

Jury was also given a two-year supervision order, including dealing with alcohol awareness, 80 hours of unpaid work in the community in the next year and a two-year restraining order to stay away from the woman's garden and home.

The defendant, whose latest address is Ashleigh Mount Road, in Exeter, was also put on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.

Judge Philip Wassall said the sentence would protect society and the victim, who had been left terrified by the intrusion on her privacy, more than the short prison term that "immature" Jury would receive under legal guidelines.

This was because he had served the equivalent of a year in prison, while remanded in custody and then electronically tagged on bail.

Judge Wassall told him: "The jury on the clearest possible evidence found you had sexually assaulted this lady as she lay asleep on her bed, completely unaware you were in her home.

"Whatever your intention on entering her home, you formed the view in your drunken state that you would try it on with her."

The first trial had been scrapped when the prosecutor became ill.

The prosecution said the woman had woken to feel "a cold hand in the middle of the night", whereas Jury claimed she had flirtatiously invited him to come around if he could not find another woman.

At the first retrial, the defendant was acquitted of the most serious charge, of entering the woman's home with the intention of committing a sexual offence, but jurors could not reach a decision on the lesser alternative of sexual assault. He had denied both charges.

He was then retried, a second time, solely on the sexual assault charge, of which he was convicted.

Prosecutor David Sapiecha, at sentencing, said: "Clearly the victim felt strongly enough to come to court — one will recall her shock at the time, as described by witnesses."

Defence counsel Richard Crabb said Jury had dramatically changed his life by moving to Exeter.

He had good work references, a supportive girlfriend, and used his spare time constructively by competing across the country in BMX riding.

He added that Jury, who has a criminal record for violence, had stayed out of trouble since.

Judge Wassall told the defendant: "This is better than sentencing you to prison for a short time."

He also said: "If you come back before the court for any other sexual offence or harassment, you are likely to find yourself treated very differently."