THE former chair of players at Basingstoke Rugby Football Club has been ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years after he sexually assaulted a woman at the club.

David Ashford was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on Monday following a trial during which a jury found him guilty of one count of sexual assault, after he touched a woman’s leg in the changing rooms at the Pack Lane club on November 11 last year.

The 33-year-old former RAF engineer, of Coniston Road, Kempshott, was acquitted of two other counts of sexual assault and two indecent exposures.

Wearing a light grey suit, blue tie and a white shirt, the father-of-two stared straight ahead as his victim read out an impact statement to the court during the sentencing hearing, describing how the assault had affected her life.

She said: “The trial had a huge impact on me. On the days before giving evidence I struggled to eat and sleep. I was very emotional. I was upset by the way I was made to feel like a liar by the defence and that David made me go through this trial rather than admit what he had done.”

The victim said she no longer went out as often, particularly in Basingstoke, and now carries a personal alarm around with her.

The incident happened at the club following a rugby game against Portsmouth.

He was described by the prosecution as an “arrogant sexual predator”, who had “little or no respect” for the victim.

Ashford’s defence barrister, Nick Tucker, said at the sentencing that his client “has not, does not and will not accept guilt”, adding: “There’s absolutely no prospect of this defendant appearing before the courts again”.

But judge Keith Cutler pointed out: “He might have said on November 10, 2017 there’s no prospect of me appearing before a criminal court in my life, but perhaps alcohol or something going on in the background of his marriage led to this.”

Mr Tucker told the judge that Ashford, who is married to a primary school teacher, is now in £11,000 of debt because of funding the legal proceedings, adding: “Whilst he has a reasonably paid job, they are far from wealthy.”

Mr Tucker said Ashford had been suspended from his job at a defence contracting company and was expecting to lose his job because of the sentencing, adding: “The only offers available to him are abroad…It might be that he and his wife have to relocate.”

Judge Cutler sentenced Ashford to a 12 month community order to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work, along with signing the sex offenders’ register for five years, and said: “It was clearly very distressing both for [the victim] and also for you, you are a man of previous good character… now you have to pay the penalty of being found guilty, of losing your good character and having a conviction against you which will require you to register on the sex offenders’ register for five years.”

He said the community order sentence “in no way overlooks the impact that your offence has had on [the victim]. She has told me she’s had to change her life as a result and clearly the whole trial was enormously distressing for her.”

Judge Cutler added: “The whole purpose of the community order is to punish you and put something back into the community which your crime has taken out.”

Ashford was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge.