Sex attack at Hampstead Theatre

A man was jailed for four weeks and put on the sex offenders register after groping a woman at a Hampstead Theatre production. Vitalij Kovaliov, 28, was convicted of intentionally touching the woman without her consent during A Jubilee For Anton Chekho

A man was jailed for four weeks and put on the sex offenders' register after groping a woman at a Hampstead Theatre production.

Vitalij Kovaliov, 28, was convicted of "intentionally touching the woman" without her consent during A Jubilee For Anton Chekhov on January 21.

Kovaliov, of no fixed abode, was sitting next to his victim and repeatedly placed his hand on the 30-year-old lap despite her asking him to move it.

He was breathing heavily and tried to whisper in her ear. At the interval, the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, approached staff, who immediately called the police. Kovaliov was arrested at the venue.

Kovaliov appeared at Highbury Corner magistrates' court last month. He will be the sex offenders' list for seven years.