Leeds student sexually assaulted by perverted burglar who climbed into her bed as she slept

Brima Harry Turay broke into the woman’s shared home in Hyde Park and stole items worth more than £1,600, but bizarrely then got under bed sheets at around 5.30am on September 30 last year.

She initially thought it was either another of her student flatmates who had got into the wrong bed and woke when she felt his hand on her hip and under the waistband of her underwear.

She turned over to find Turay, who, she had never seen before, and screamed at him. He quickly fled the scene. It was later found that items had been stolen from the property including a laptop and an iPhone.

He was later arrested and initially denied the offences, claiming his fingerprints found in the room was because he had gone into the house “by mistake” after thinking his friends were there.

The 50-year-old father-of-five later admitted burglary, but continued to deny he assaulted the female. He was found guilty after a trial.

In a victim personal statement summarised at Leeds Crown Court by prosecutor Richard Walters, he said the student still suffered flashbacks and had trouble sleeping.

Turay, of Iveson Gardens, Lawnswood, also admitted two counts of using false documents which he used to obtain work at the Next distribution centre in South Elmsall near Wakefield. Turay, who is originally from Sierra Leone, had come to the UK in 1997 and was granted temporary visas.

But they ran out in 2019, and was not permitted to remain in the UK. He then claimed he was a French citizen to acquire employment, supplying the forged papers.

Mitigating, Jessica Heggie said: “He has lived in the UK for 26 years and has ben a hard-working tax-paying member of the community. The reason why he used the false documents was not to gain entry but to gain work and support his family.

"This spate of offending is entirely out of character. There’s very little explanation I can put forward.”

She said he had been in custody since his arrest in early October and had found it difficult, particularly not being able to see his five children who live in the UK.

Judge Neil Clark admitted he was not certain whether Turay had intended to sexually assault the woman and happened to steal the items, or his primary aim was to burgle the house and then decided to target the sleeping victim.

However, he concluded that Turay was dangerous after a report into his offending suggested he was of “high risk” to the public. He jailed him for a total of nine years and six months, made up of five years and six months’ jail, and four years of extended licence period.

He said: “You have showed no remorse for the sexual offending and continue to deny it. This offence demonstrates that you are dangerous. You either broke in to assault the woman or having entered to steal, saw a woman in her bed and for some reason could not help yourself from sexually assaulting her.”