A MIDDLE-aged man who fondled a 15-year-old girl while she was asleep is to be setenced today .Richard Brown, 43, of Staplehurst House, Clapton, will be sentenced for indecent assault today having been found guilty at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday .

A MIDDLE-aged man who fondled a 15-year-old girl while she was asleep is to be setenced today .

Richard Brown, 43, of Staplehurst House, Clapton, will be sentenced for indecent assault today having been found guilty at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday .

The young victim and her friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were staying with Brown at his father's house in Martlesham when the incident took place.

It was claimed that Brown entered the girls' bedroom three times on February 8 after they had gone to bed. On the third visit he began to feel the inner thigh and vagina of the girl.

Brown who did not appear in Court, denied the charge and was tried in his absence. He claimed he entered the girls' bedroom the first time to play the computer as he could not sleep.

The second time he went in was to get a disc and some indigestion tablets. On the third occasion he said he saw the duvet cover was only covering one of the girls so he went to pull it back over them. This is when the girl claimed Brown indecently touched her.

Speaking via a video link the claimant, who is now 16, told how she had shared a single bed and duvet with her friend on the night of the incident but her friend had remained asleep throughout.

The youngster said she had woken first when she heard a noise and found Brown standing over the bed. He told the girl he wanted to play on the computer in the bedroom and she went back to sleep only to be woken again by the sound of bags rustling by the bed.

The next time she was woken it was at about 5.30am when she claimed Brown subjected her to the assault. She said: "I felt a hand moving up my right leg at the top of my thigh. It was just moving, sort of going up and down. It was just one hand – I could tell it was the left because I felt a thumb moving underneath".

The teenager then claimed Brown touched her vagina as she reached to turn on the light. She then saw Brown jump up and turn towards the computer which was switched off.

She said the incident had lasted only a short while and had taken place over the top of her pyjamas.

Matthew McNiff prosecuting claimed Brown's explanation was unfounded. He said: "He touched her indecently – there is no other sensible explanation for what occurred. The hand, we say his hand, deliberately contacted the area of her vagina."

The jury agreed with the prosecution and Brown will be sentenced today.