A man has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in the centre of Portsmouth.

On July 7 last year, a woman was walking along Winston Churchill Avenue in Somerstown at around 5.30pm when a man began to follow her.

The man approached her, made sexual noises, and then grabbed her aggressively by the shoulders whilst making sexual comments to her, according to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. The woman, who has a right to life-long anonymity, was frightened and attempted to fight him off.

She was assisted by several members of the public who were driving past and stopped to help her.

Following a police investigation, Conor Hodgkins, 35, of no fixed abode in Portsmouth was arrested and charged with sexual assault. Appearing at Portsmouth Crown Court on Thursday, March 26, after a three-day trial, Hodgkins was found guilty by a jury.

He will now be remanded in custody, and be sentenced at the same court on Friday, May 15.