A MAN who bundled a woman into a car and then drove her to a remote lay-by where he sexually assaulted her has been given a 15-month jail sentence.

Kevin Sexton was caught on CCTV cameras at the flats where the woman lived, dragging her to his BMW while she had just her dressing gown on.

Sexton, 47, then drove off from the flats in Billingham, near Stockton, with the passenger door open, while his victim was screaming.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court, said the defendant, who was in an agitated state, drove around the area for about half an hour before stopping at a layby, in Port Clarence, where he sexually assaulted her.

After threatening to kill himself, he then drove her back home. Following the incident on January 20, he was arrested by police, having tried to cut his wrists.

Mr Dodds said Sexton, who admitted kidnap and assault by penetration, had contradicted himself in the account of the incident he had given to police. The incident which unfolded in the foyer of the flats was shown to the court on TV.

An independent witness, who lived in the flats, also gave an account of what she saw to police.

Mr Dodds said: “The defendant was seen effectively dragging her [the victim] into his car and he then pushed her into the vehicle.”

Yvonne Taylor, mitigating, said Sexton had been suffering from what she described as a major depressive episode and had been on medication.

She also said he had hit “rock bottom” in his life.

The mechanical engineer, of Beamish Road, Billingham, had since turned his life around. He had no more suicidal thoughts and was no longer on medication and had a job waiting for him, should he avoid jail.

Ms Taylor said: “This was a dreadful incident, but an isolated one.”

She urged Judge Tony Briggs to suspend the sentence on Sexton, whose father, the court heard, was also very ill.

Judge Briggs rejected her plea, but said that due to the unusual circumstances of the case he could reduce Sexton’s sentence to 15 months with a requirement that he signs on the sex offenders’ register.

The judge said it had been a single event that was unlikely to be repeated, and also said he accepted Sexton’s “complete remorse”.

But he added the incident was “very serious”, describing it as “distressing, frightening and degrading” for the woman. A total of 130 days was deducted from the sentence for time Sexton had already served on remand in jail.