A PERVERT who undressed a woman as she slept and took intimate photos of her on his mobile phone has escaped jail.

Mark Walker thought his victim might "shrug it off as stupidity" but it left her feeling segregated and humiliated.

Walker, 49, interfered with the woman's bra and knickers as she slept in her home after they had drank together.

When she woke, she saw him taking pictures and told him to stop, prosecutor Paul Cleasby told Teesside Crown Court.

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said: "He is sorry for his behaviour that evening and he is truly ashamed of what he did."

Walker, of Pine Road, Guisborough, east Cleveland, told police he took the photos for himself but quickly deleted them.

He admitted sexual assault and was yesterday given a 16-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, also ordered him to pay £1,000 costs. He will be on sex offenders’ register for ten years.

Mr Mochrie said Walker pleaded guilty recognising his “belief that she may have consented was wholly unfounded, wholly unreasonable”.

He told the court: “Here is a man who completely misjudged the boundaries of acceptance as to sexual conduct.

“Mr Walker unreasonably took the view that this might have been shrugged off by the victim as stupidity.

“Of course he was completely wrong about that and now understands and appreciates that what he did was completely out of order.

“This is the first time that he has ever been convicted of any offence, let alone a sexual offence."

Judge Bourne-Arton the Recorder of Middlesbrough, told Walker: “The impact of what you did can only be known by her."

He added: “You took advantage of her falling asleep to abuse her, essentially, and to a degree degraded her.

“I am satisfied you did that for your own sexual prurient interest. That, of course, is a worrying aspect in the case.”