A Burton man sexually assaulted a young woman after grabbing her by the throat, a court has heard.

Imran Chaudhry, 38, of Oak Street, was jailed for the drunken attack on the 21-year-old as she walked alone in Huddersfield town centre around 4.15am on December 10 last year.

Joe Culley, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court that the victim had been on a night out with her friends and they decided to move to The Parish pub at the bottom of Kirkgate.

Some of her friends wanted to get food, but she didn’t want to and decided to meet them at the pub, the Burton Mail’s sister paper The Huddersfield Daily Examiner reported.

As she walked alone past McDonald’s on Kirkgate, she noticed two men were following her.

Imran Chaudhry has been jailed for 20 months

They shouted out and she thought they were saying “police, police”, but they were pleading “please, please”.

One man walked away and the other – Chaudhry – moved forward and used both his hands to pull her towards him, with one hand firmly on her bottom and the other hand almost between her legs.

She pushed him away, but he put his left hand around her throat and used the other hand to touch her knickers before pulling her into a shop doorway.

Her friends as well as a doorman working nearby, witnessed it and came to her rescue. They were able to detain him and call the police.

Chaudhry said he had been out at the Camel Club and described himself as “eight out of 10” on a scale of drunkenness.

In a victim statement, the woman said she was already suffering from depression and it has worsened, with her self-harming and only getting two to three hours of sleep per night.

Chaudhry said he had been out at the Camel Club, pictured

After taking a month off work to recover from the incident, she lost her job, causing her financial difficulties.

She used to regularly go out in the town centre, but has only been out once or twice since and will not go out alone.

On Friday, April 6, he pleaded guilty to indecent assault and told a judge: “I still believe it wasn’t me. I was so drunk I can’t remember. That’s why I pleaded guilty.”

Mann Mahan, mitigating, said that his client, who used to live in Huddersfield, separated from his wife five months before the incident and his friends had persuaded him to go out in town.

He said: “His normal drink is Jack Daniel’s. On this occasion, his friend purchased some shots.

“It was those shots that led him to become more drunk than he has ever been before – drunk to the degree he did not know what he was doing.

“When he was told what he did, he was disgusted with himself. He is deeply remorseful.”

Chaudhry has no previous convictions.

Jailing him for 20 months and banning him from Huddersfield town centre, Recorder Andrew Haslam QC told him: “Goodness knows what was going through her mind at that time.

“Fortunately, she had friends and other people about who were able to detain you until police arrived.”

He added: “Those who go out at night, particularly vulnerable young females, are entitled to feel safe.”