University graduate, 28, faces jail after being found guilty of sexually assaulting woman who blacked out on his lap after downing Guinness, rum, Jagermeister and vodka

• Louis Woods, of Wandsworth, assaulted the woman at Birkbeck University’s bar
• His victim said she had been ‘unconscious most of the time’ while outside the bar
• But she recalled Woods saying ‘sweetie, come home with me’ before the assault
• Graduate Woods has been convicted of two charges of assault by penetration

A ‘creepy’ university graduate who sexually assaulted a woman outside a student bar as she blacked out on his lap is facing jail.

Louis Woods, 28, touched the complainant intimately in the Birkbeck University bar in Bloomsbury, central London, on March 18 2019.

The victim was drunk and went outside to the bar’s smoking area to get some air when she was assaulted, Wood Green Crown Court heard.

Woods denied two charges of assault by penetration and said even claimed he had been left ‘heartbroken’ by the woman’s allegations.

But he was convicted of two counts of penetration by the jury after they deliberated for three hours and 37 minutes. He was bailed ahead of sentence on January 31 next year.

Louis Woods, 28, has been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman at the Birkbeck University bar in Bloomsbury, central London, on March 18, 2019. He is pictured leaving court

Liam Gregory, prosecuting, earlier told jurors: ‘She did not consent to a sexual act… Mr Woods could not reasonably believe there was consent when he carried out this act.’

The complainant said she had one pint of Guinness, two shots of rum, a Jager shot and two double vodka lemonades on an empty stomach.

During a police interview she said: ‘I don’t recall how I got outside, I just know I felt ill.

‘I still don’t know the reason he went outside with me. Most of the time I was unconscious, flipping between passing out a little bit.

‘Throughout the time I was there I was laying on him and he would motion for me to lay back down on him again.

‘There were times when he was creepy, a bit pervy, but I think I let it slide because I felt he had feelings for me.’

After the sexual assaults the woman said she felt in ‘shock’ but did not not want to make a scene.

‘I wasn’t even sure how I felt about it,’ she said. ‘Once I woke up sober, I was able to think about it more clearly, this wasn’t right. I felt violated.’

Prosecutor Liam Gregory told the court that the woman had not consented to the sexual act and there was no basis for Woods to believe that she had. Pictured is Wood Green Crown Court

She recalled Woods kissing the back of her head and shoulder and saying ‘sweetie come home with me’ before he assaulted her.

The woman sent a series of messages to her boyfriend which read ‘I think I’m quite drunk’ and went on to describe the intimate assault Woods allegedly carried out.

She said: ‘He took advantage of my drunkenness…It looked like he was molesting me and I guess he was?’

Woods told the court: ‘In regard to the allegations I was very very hurt, heartbroken even…we had built a friendship, something very very beautiful and it had been destroyed.

‘Everything we did that night was consensual.’

He said he was aware the woman had a boyfriend.

The prosecutor asked Woods about the intimate touching that went on and whether she at any point said ‘please do that to me’.

Woods replied: ‘She didn’t give me verbal consent but I did ask her if she was ok and from her mannerisms and how she had been during the day, at the bar we were holding hands.

‘She sat on a pile of bags just to be closer to me a lot of little things led up to me thinking that something was going to happen and that I had consent to do it.’

Mr Gregory said: ‘Her evidence describes you as “creepy”, “pervy” and that she “felt sorry for you”.’

Woods, of Wandsworth, southwest London, replied: ‘I have no idea why she would say that.’

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