A woman thought she may have been dreaming when she was sexually assaulted.

But a court heard how she realised it was real when her friend repeated the assault later on.

The 45-year-old woman had taken up an offer of a bed for the night from Ian Burgess as she had been made homeless.

They had been out with another man on June 7 last year and had returned to the home of Burgess at Elfreda House, Iceni Way, Colchester.

Burgess, 59, had been drinking heavily but the woman was sober when she went to bed, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

Later on, Burgess carried out a sex assault on her and repeated the assault a short while later, Kevin Toomey, prosecuting, said.

He added: "At the time she was not sure if she was dreaming and was in some shock, but some time later the same thing happened again.

"She saw it was the defendant and shouted at him," Mr Toomey said.

Burgess admitted the sex assault when he appeared in court and was jailed for two years. He was also put on the sex offenders' register for ten years.

Sarah Vine, mitigating, said Burgess was disgusted by his behaviour, which had taken place after he had taken an "exorbitant amount of alcohol".

He did not remember what had taken place, but accepted what the woman had told police must be true.

He deeply regretted what had taken place, Miss Vine added.