A FEMALE soldier told a court she was “angry, hysterical and confused” after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by an Army colleague following a night out.

The woman said she called fellow soldier Glen Smith “every name under the sun” and also punched him in the face.

Mr Smith, 28, who denies sexual assault and is on trial at Teesside Crown Court, is accused of putting his hand down the complainant's underwear and touching her after she had drifted off to sleep.

The court heard how both Mr Smith and the alleged victim were on a leaving do and had been drinking in Richmond and Louis's Bar in Catterick, North Yorkshire.

He had been with two other men when it was suggested the woman – who was said to be drunk but aware of her surroundings - should be walked back to her home.

After inviting the three men in and offering them a drink they began to watch television. The complainant said Mr Smith asked her to sit with him on a large swivel chair, which she did, which was when she fell asleep.

“The next thing I knew I woke up with [his] left hand down my pants,” she told the jury.

The woman, who had changed into pyjamas, said she removed Mr Smith's hand and escorted him out of the house.

Moments later she said Mr Smith returned to fetch his mobile phone which was when she “went for him, calling him a cheeky bastard” and punched him in the face.

A further scuffle then took place outside in which she believed she had bit the defendant's ear before they were separated and Mr Smith left.

The woman said she curled up into a ball and cried while one of the other men present rang the police. A recording of the call was played to the jury.

Glenn Parsons, defending, suggested the alleged victim had not told the truth about the amount of alcohol she had drunk that night, which included bottles of cider, lager and 'jaegerbombs'.

Mr Parsons said Mr Smith, of Willow Glade, Huntington, North Yorkshire, never asked the complainant to sit with him and, while it was possible he had brushed her thigh over her pyjamas, he did not put his hand inside her knickers.

It was also agreed that the defendant had never made any inappropriate remarks to the woman or made any passes towards her before the alleged attack on July 4 last year.

The trial continues.