Trainee solicitor sexually assaulted two women as they slept at party.

A trainee solicitor, Tom Hagyard, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually assaulting two women at a colleague's party in west London.

Hagyard, who had just started working at one of the world's largest law firms, molested a drunken woman as she slept in the party host's bed. Minutes later, he groped another woman who was asleep on the living room couch.

The 29-year-old claimed the sexual activity was consensual, but the jury found him guilty of two counts of assault by penetration in relation to the first woman and two counts of sexual assault in relation to the second woman. The jury failed to reach a verdict on one count of raping the first woman.

Recorder Simon Russell Flint QC, sentencing Hagyard, stated that the first victim had a lot to drink and was put into bed. "You almost immediately started to touch her," he said. "This young lady was sound asleep when you began to touch her sexually and she did not kiss you or give you any encouragement. She had no idea what was happening to her and could not identify who it was. You were a stranger to her and she did not consent to what you were doing and neither did you believe she was consenting."

The judge continued, "You went ahead and did what you wanted to do to this woman and, getting little or no satisfaction, went looking for another victim. You went into the living room, where the second woman was asleep."

The first victim, in her victim impact statement, said the night left her with chronic stress, anxiety, insomnia, and panic attacks. "The nightmares I have in relation to the assaults are impossible to shake off," she said. "The defendant's actions have destroyed my trust and personal faith in other people. I have felt ashamed that I did not fight back and still berate myself about it."

The second woman, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, said: "Tom Hagyard, I don't hate you. You are a stranger to me. I hope you can explore why you are the way you are and seek resolution so you do not harm anyone else. I am grieving for the loss of my old self, I miss her deeply. The last four years have been torture with the anticipation of being in court."

Hagyard arrived at the party on October 15, 2017, with a bottle of wine. In the early hours, the first victim woke up with Hagyard on top of her. "We got very drunk and I don't remember a lot," she told the trial. "I took myself to bed and I woke up and there was a boy sort of on top of me."

The woman added: "I was going in and out of consciousness and did not think I could move. I froze a bit, I didn't fight him off or anything. I remember trying to push him away. I was staring at the wall for a while. I felt very drunk, nine or ten out of ten drunk. I kept my eyes closed for a bit and I remember feeling confused. He was on top of me and I was in pain. I felt like I could not move or fight him off and my memory goes in and out, I have flashes."

Hagyard claimed the second woman invited him onto the sofa, where he began massaging her chest. However, prosecutor Richard Job said: "She had also had a bit to drink and was sleeping in her clothes. She was woken at 5:30 am by someone touching her chest. She was scared and she got up and went quickly to the hosts' bedroom."

Hagyard expressed regret for his actions and complained about how his potential career was destroyed before it even started. "It has been difficult," he told the court. "I lost my job at the law firm."

Hagyard's lawyer, Karina Arden, said: "This is a terrible tragedy not just for the complainants, but for the defendant and his family, who have accompanied him throughout the trial. His professional life that he worked so hard for is over. He has changed from being a confident young trainee solicitor who was ambitious and dreamed of a career in commercial law. He has suffered every day for the last four years and regrets the incident that night in that flat and it will remain with him for the rest of his life."

Hagyard will remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely and must serve two-thirds of the sentence before he can be considered for parole.