A young mother woke up late at night to find a drink and drug-crazed stranger in her bedroom wanting to shake her hand and asking to talk to her, a court heard.

Jack Longhurst then stripped off some of his clothes and jumped into bed with the terrified woman, whose baby was also in the room.

He molested the victim and only left the house in Dartford after her mother awoke and intervened.

Longhurst, who has two previous convictions for sexual offences, was jailed for two years and eight months after a judge told him: “You have a pattern of trying to force yourself on lone females.

“She was terrified by the whole incident and it will live with her for a long period of time.”

Longhurst, 27, went to the house just after midnight in July last year and knocked on the door. When the victim's younger brother opened it Longhurst asked if somebody called Sam lived there.

He said he knew the boy’s sister and wrongly stated she was called Sam. The boy tried to close the door, but Longhurst pushed past him and went upstairs.

He went into the victim's room and held out his hand to shake hers, telling her his name was Jack, prosecutor Bridget Todd Maidstone Crown Court.

“She was confused and started to panic,” said Miss Todd. “He said he wanted to talk to her. He took off his shoulder bag. He took off his shirt and shoes and got into bed with her.

“He attempted to kiss her. She pushed him away. He tried to pull her towards him. She pushed him away saying she didn’t know him and wanted him to leave.

“He grabbed her around her back. She could feel his hand on her skin. He said: ‘Come on, lie down with me.’ She told him to leave.

“He said: ‘Just face me and look at me.’ He grabbed hold of her face and pulled it with force towards him. He said: ‘I just want to get to know you.’

“He grabbed her left breast. She told him to stop. She repeated it loudly because she wanted her brother to come back into the room.”

"This must have been a terrifying incident for a young woman to find a stranger in her house touching her in this way" - Prosecutor Bridget Todd

Longhurst asked: “Am I making you feel uncomfortable?” She told him he was. She got up to see to her crying baby.

Longhurst went into the bedrooms of the brother and mother before returning to the victim’s room.

“He made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature and tried to touch her,” said Miss Todd. “The mother was now fully awake and she was able to evict him.”

Longhurst, of Dunkin Road, Temple Hill, protested that he wanted to stay in the lounge and have a cigarette. He eventually left and was arrested nearby.

Longhurst had previous convictions for sexual offences in 2013 and 2015. One involved an assault on a woman on a train and the other touching a woman over her clothing.

Miss Todd said of the latest sexual assault, which Longhurst admitted: “This must have been a terrifying incident for a young woman to find a stranger in her house touching her in this way.”

Simon Taylor, defending, said the offence was inexplicable, other than Longhurst had taken drink and drugs that evening.

“He has extremely low self-esteem,” said Mr Taylor. “He is on the sex offender register. He doesn’t see himself in that way. He has resolved to leave alcohol and drugs behind.

“He suffers from anxiety and depression. He has applied for a drink and drugs course in prison.”

Longhurst is said to have many skills in the building industry.

Passing sentence, Judge Adele Williams said a serious aggravating factor was Longhurst’s previous convictions for similar offences.