A Colchester man who broke into a woman’s house and sexually assaulted her in a “terrifying” attack after he’d been drinking and using cocaine has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

The young mother, who was in bed with her young daughter, woke to find naked Charlie Bowyer on top of her and when she screamed and tried to push him away he pinned her down by her wrist and shoulder, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Bowyer touched the woman’s breast over her clothing and touched the skin on her hip and only ran from the room after she repeatedly shouted her brother’s name, said Nneka Akodulu, prosecuting.

Bowyer tried to get out of the front door of the house in Greenstead “in a clear state of panic” and finding it was locked he then tried to jump out of a window.

Bowyer was yelling incoherently and his eyes were “wide and bulging” and he appeared to be drunk and to have taken drugs.

Shortly afterwards at around 5am on May 21 Bowyer was heard shouting for help by a neighbour who looked out of his window and saw him lying in his garden

When police arrested Bowyer he had a hose round his neck which he had used to strangle himself and told officers: “Kill me.Kill me.”

When officers went to the victim’s home they found Bowyer’s discarded clothing by the front door and a kitchen knife.

In a statement to police Bowyer said he’d taken more cocaine than he’d ever used before and couldn’t explain why he’d acted in the way he did.

He said he was completely shocked and ashamed by what he’d done and said he realised how frightening it must have been for the victim.

Bowyer, 25, who was living in Colchester but has been staying in Chingford, admitted two offences of sexual assault, trespassing with intent to commit sexual assault, possession of cocaine and possession of cannabis.

In addition to being jailed he was banned from contacting the victim and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

Sentencing him Judge David Goodin said what happened must have been an “entirely terrifying experience” for the victim

Richard Conley, for Bowyer, described the case as unusual and said his client felt “abject devastation and shame” for what he’d done.

He said Bowyer was no longer using alcohol or drugs.