A ROSSENDALE woman has spoken of her horror at being sexual assaulted at a house party by a man claiming to suffer from ‘sexsomnia’.

The woman who has not been named for legal reasons, had been on a night out with her boyfriend and a number of close friends when the attack happened in January last year.

Her attacker, 47-year-old Alan Walker, of Nook Farm Avenue, Rochdale was sentenced to a two years jail sentence on Wednesday, after being found guilty of sexual assault by penetration at Burnley Crown Court.

He has also been ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years after a jury failed to accept his claim that he had a condition called ‘sexsomnia’ which meant he committed the attack while he was asleep.

The 30-year-old said: “We had been out and had a really good night. I thought I was safe falling asleep at my friends house but I couldn’t believe how wrong I was.

“I was even cuddled up to my boyfriend when the attack happened.

“When I woke up and realised what was happening I went mad and started hitting out at Walker.

“My boyfriend then woke up and threw him out.

“Initially, I didn’t want to go to the police as I am a really private person, but deep down I knew I needed to report this to prevent it happening to someone else.”

The delivery van driver attacked the woman after the group went back to a house party and fell asleep.

His victim said: “I didn’t go to court to see Walker get sentenced because he has already taken up enough of my time. There was no way he had ‘sexsomnia’ that was just his rubbish attempt to wriggle out of this.

“I haven’t been able to go back to my friend’s house since the attack happened. I am a lot more wary now and I certainly wouldn’t fall asleep at a party again.

“But I don’t regret going to the police, they have been great and hopefully he will learn from this..

“I urge anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation, to report it to police so they can make sure the attacker doesn't hurt anyone else.”