A judge has ordered an inquiry into a police investigation of a bleach-soaked cloth attack on a woman by a former accountant.

Marc Brazier, 40, who worked at Dungeness Power Station, has been jailed for two years after being convicted of assaulting his victim with a cloth covered in bleach.

The woman – who can’t be named for legal reasons – suffered burns to her face during the ordeal.

She fled from her home dressed only in a T-shirt and knickers after waking to find Brazier smothering her mouth with a chemical.

Now Judge Heather Norton has given the Crown Prosecution Service two weeks for a report into “serious errors” in the police investigation.

“There was a lot that was wrong with this investigation which is frankly difficult to understand,” she added.

Brazier, of The Esplanade, Sandgate, had denied assault causing actual bodily harm but was found guilty.

He was acquitted by a jury at Canterbury Crown Court of a sexual offence.

The court heard how the former manual worker trained to be an accountant after learning he was to become a father.

But after losing his accountancy post he had gone out drinking with friends at a karaoke bar.

His barrister Thomas Nicholson-Pratt said: “He has never been in trouble before this incident.

"He was so successful as an accountant at Dungeness that he worked himself out of a job.

“He had gone out that night to drown his sorrows at a pub."

Judge Norton said the incident happened in the victim’s own home. Brazier had gone there after leaving the bar.

Speaking about the woman's ordeal, Judge Norton said to Brazier: “She described in her evidence how you came into her bedroom.

"She said she felt you touching her up and she told you to get off. You did and she went back to sleep.

“There was a lot that was wrong with this investigation which is frankly difficult to understand” - Judge Heather Norton

“The next thing she can recall was being woken up with a cloth on her face. She described how you were pressing down and smothering her.

"She couldn’t breathe and she could smell fumes from something, which turned out to be bleach.

"She described how she was on her back and you were straddling her with your legs on either side. She pulled her legs out from under you and kicked you in the chest to get you off.

“But you came back again and you forced your hand over her face once more. She said that she was hitting you in the face.

“She managed to break free and ran down the street to a friend’s house in the middle of the night, dressed only in a T-shirt and knickers.”