A man who walked into an unlocked house and subjected the woman living there to a serious indecent assault has been jailed for six years.

Norman Ogg, 42, came across the middle-aged woman, who lived alone, after he had wandered into the house in the Cowley area of Oxford on October 26.

Tony McGeorge, prosecuting, told Oxford Crown Court yesterday that after threatening to kill her if she did not keep quiet, Ogg put his hands around her throat and squeezed to stop her screaming, before committing a sex act on her.

Ogg, of Coleridge Close, Cowley, previously admitted burglary with intent to steal and indecent assault. A third charge of attempted rape relating to the same incident was dropped after the prosecution accepted Ogg's not guilty plea at an earlier hearing.

Sentencing Ogg to six years imprisonment for the indecent assault, and three years for burglary to run concurrently, Mr Justice Potts said: "I accept to some extent you were acting in a state of panic and that you have shown genuine remorse. But this indecent assault is about as serious as you can get."