A JUDGE is to receive reports and background material on an Army sergeant who was yesterday convicted of indecently assaulting and tying up a woman.

John Widdecombe, 35, was convicted on one charge of indecent assault and a charge of false imprisonment by a jury which spent eight hours deliberating its verdicts.

They had heard the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, tell how Widdecombe pushed his way inside her home at 2.15am on April 7 this year and smashed her face into a mirror before carrying out the indecent assault.

After the attack, during which he kept a mask over his face, Widdecombe tied her hands behind her back to a door handle and read a passage from the Bible out loud before kissing her and leaving.

Widdecombe said he had never known the woman and that on that night had been in the sergeants' mess at Blandford Camp.

After the jury returned its verdict, prosecutor Ben Stephenson told Judge Keith Cutler that before the attack Widdecombe had spent time at the Catterick Garrison's psychiatric unit receiving treatment for depression.

Mr Stephenson said: "There is background material which the court should hear about Mr Widdecombe, statements from people who know him, about their dealings with him, which may be material as to sentence."

Defence counsel Louise D'arcy said that the statements were denied and if the Judge was to read them then he would have to hear evidence about them.

Judge Cutler said: "The verdict of guilty means that he can be punished as a dangerous man and it is right that I should have some psychiatric background material and the benefit of a pre-sentence report before I pass sentence."

Widdecombe was remanded in custody until sentencing in January.