A roofer refused to begin his jail sentence - until he had kissed goodbye to his lover.

Convicted sex offender Stefan Crocker had just been given a 30-month prison term for attacking a woman he met on a Tinder date.

But instead of going straight to the cells at Maidstone Crown Court - he embraced his girlfriend, who had watched proceedings from the public gallery.

As the security guard pulled him away, the lovelorn Crocker shouted: "I am sorry but I can't kiss my girlfriend for (another) 30 months".

The incident was also witnessed by his victim, sitting with a police officer just a few feet away. She was later escorted away from the courtroom through a side entrance.

A jury had convicted Crocker, now of Maybourne Place, Staplehurst of sex assault by penetration after an incident in September 30, 2017.

Prosecutor Richard Hearnden had told how the victim had met Crocker after the two began talking on a dating website and agreed to meet up in a pub in Tonbridge.

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The jury heard how she drank a lot of alcohol and vomited twice on the return to her home and it was there she was sexually assaulted by Crocker.

The judge, Recorder Alistair Webster QC, told him his claim that his victim had planted his DNA on her had been "ludicrous" and branded him a "glib liar" who had still not accepted that he had carried out the attack.

The victim, in her impact statement which was read to the court, told how she had "blocked out the incident from her mind to protect myself".

But she told the judge: "I feel foolish and weak to have let it happen to me. It does make me feel dirty.. I keep asking myself 'why me?'

"I refuse to let this incident define me. I am still me. I didn't deserve this to happen to me. It shouldn't have happened to anyone. I feel like I have been taken advantage of and violated... I want to get on with my life."

In a second statement she added that Crocker's lies had forced her to re-live the nightmare ordeal which had left her too frightened to sleep.

"He made it look so easy to lie. I have to live with what he's done and the lies he has told."

After the hearing the judge apologised to the victim for the delays in the trial which were "excessive."

The judge said that in a probation report Crocker, formerly of Tanyard Estate, Sandhurst, near Cranbrook, took responsibility for what had occurred but had shown no remorse.

He told Crocker – who was cleared of a second charge of rape – "I saw you give evidence and I found you a ready and glib and, on the face of it, a persuasive liar."

Commenting on the sentencing, Detective Constable Celia King, of the Chief Constable’s Crime Squad, said: "This was a distressing ordeal for a young woman whose trust was betrayed in an appalling manner.

"Crocker has not shown any remorse for his actions and a prison sentence is entirely appropriate.

"I would like to commend the victim who has courageously assisted us to bring this offender to justice."