Rodney Hart 37

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A CONVICTED child snatcher who took advantage of a sleeping woman at a party has been jailed.

Rodney Hart, 33, who was convicted by Oxford jurors of sexual assault last month, was said on Friday to still not accept his guilt – although, paradoxically, did accept the finding of the jury.

His defence barrister, Richard Paton-Philip, asked the judge to consider imposing a suspended sentence.

Hart, who was jailed for a year in 2018 for child abduction, had abstained from drugs and alcohol, had been receiving treatment for mental health issues and had expressed limited remorse, Oxford Crown Court heard.

Mr Paton-Philip said: “He’s sorry he’s had this impact and understandable impact on her wellbeing.”

Jailing him for nine months, Judge Maria Lamb described the assault, which took place at a home in a west Oxfordshire village almost four years ago, as despicable and disgusting.

“On July 2, 2017, your victim – for victim she was – had gone to the gathering at the home of a friend and you had gone along to that gathering,” she said.

“You met and spoke to her briefly during the course of the evening and to be fair to you, you accept nothing in the encounter you had with her, brief as it was, could have given you any sign she was remotely interested in you.

“You ended up in the sitting room where she fell asleep on the sofa and I am clear in my own mind this was simply because of the lateness of the hour and not because of any other reason.

“And you took advantage of the situation to touch her.”

Hart had been caught touching the woman by a friend of the victim. He later claimed the man had lied about what he saw because the pair had argued earlier in the evening. Those claims were not substantiated.

Judge Lamb said: “You don’t accept what you have done amounts to the offence of which you were convicted. In so far as you say you are prepared to work with the probation service I wonder if that is not a matter of pragmatism and convenience.”

Hart, of Church Crescent, St Albans, was found guilty of sexual assault at Oxford Crown Court in May.

In 2018, he was given 12 months for taking a 14-year-old child without lawful authority in Swindon. He denied performing a sex act in the presence of a child and the charges were not pursued by prosecutors.