A WOMAN has told a court how a man sexually assaulted her after she could not get home due to heavy snow.

Bolton Crown Court was told how Ashley Glossop allegedly got into bed with the woman and began touching her as she slept.

Glossop, aged 34, of Brookfield Street, Bolton, has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault.

Susan Carter, prosecuting, told how the woman had been at a friend’s Tonge Moor Road flat on December 18 2010 when she and her female friend were invited to stay the night because it had started snowing heavily.

The two women had been at the flat to celebrate a birthday along with several other guests, including Ashley Glossop.

The group spent the evening drinking and singing on the karaoke machine and the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and her friend went to bed, fully clothed in an attic bedroom.

But during the night the woman told how she woke to find Glossop had climbed into bed with her and was touching her.

“I panicked because I didn’t know what to do,” she told the court.

She told how she screamed when she realised her friend, who had gone downstairs to the kitchen, was not there and the rest of the party rushed into the bedroom where a fight began between the party host and Glossop.

The woman, giving evidence from behind screens, told the court how she left the flat and telephoned police.

In a video taped interview with police the woman told how the assault has affected her.

“I never want to see his face ever again. I just feel violated,” she said.

The case continues.