A bridegroom who sexually assaulted a stranger on his stag night because he wanted one final fling has been jailed for seven years.

Louis Palmer, 33, stalked his 30-year-old victim at the end of a drunken night out to celebrate his impending wedding.

He pushed the woman against a wall and indecently assaulted her. When she tried to fight him off, he punched her in the face.

Jailed: Louis Palmer, and his wife Amanda, arriving at Bournemouth Crown Court

Despite his being arrested and charged with the attack, Palmer's fiancee Amanda Conway went ahead with the wedding and married him three weeks later.

Mrs Palmer, who supported him in court, broke down in tears as her husband was found guilty of the assault and jailed.

Palmer was on his stag night in Bournemouth with a group of friends on July 5 last year.

At about 4am the builder, from Brierley Hill, in the West Midlands, became separated from the group and went off to buy a kebab, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.

He was caught on CCTV cameras following the woman as she walked through the town centre alone.

The victim, who cannot be identified, told the court: 'I remember crossing the road, then just out of nowhere someone grabbed hold of me and threw me against a wall.

Despite Palmer being arrested and charged with the attack, his then-fiancée Amanda Conway married him three weeks later. They are pictured here on their wedding day

'I was telling him "please stop", then he punched me in the face. The next thing I remember is being on the other side of the wall.'

The victim was left covered in cuts and bruises after the attack.

Palmer was arrested the next day in a bookmakers in Bournemouth,

where he and his friends were picking up winnings from a bet they had made.

He claimed the woman had offered him 'one last fling' after he stopped and asked her for directions. He told police he had agreed to what he thought would be a 'five-second fumble'.

Palmer said: 'I thought it was going to be like a five-second fumble and whatever, and I would go off into the night. She wasn't saying anything until she went berserk.



'When women become hysterical, it is necessary sometimes to slap them to bring them round.'

Assault: Palmer, circled in white, is captured on CCTV on his stag night in Bournemouth. His victim is also spotted on camera, circled red below





Palmer had denied charges of sexual assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but was found guilty following a trial.

Sentencing him, Judge Roger Jarvis said: ' This was, by any measure, an especially appalling attack. Your unfortunate victim found herself separated from her friends. She was alone and anxious. The clear impression is that she felt very vulnerable.

'You saw her and stalked her in a predatory way and there you violently assaulted her. This attack has had a devastating effect. No one should suffer in this terrible way.

'A woman should feel safe to walk home whatever the circumstances-Detective Sergeant Phil Swanton, who investigated the case for Dorset Police, said: 'This was a despicable attack on a lone female and I am pleased with the verdict.

'Mr Palmer stalked the victim for just under a mile before attacking her and is clearly a very dangerous sexual predator.'

Palmer was told that his name would be added to the sex offenders' register after his release from prison.

Mrs Palmer said she was too upset to comment on the sentence but it is understood she is standing by her husband.