A Bracknell man followed a drunk woman home before kidnapping her and sexually assaulting her in the woods. 

Andrew Custos, of Wroxham, was locked up today (August 12) after ‘stalking’ the mother near home at Booker Common on February 26, 2022. 

The 30-year-old father had been driving his white Mercedes around Marlow town centre at 2am when he spotted the woman, who appeared ‘unsteady’, getting into a tax from outside The Ship pub.

Custos followed the taxi 3.5 miles and through a red light to its destination, where the woman got out at the end of her road. 

She walked back to her house and noticed Custos was following her so she kept walking past her home until she got to the end of the street. 

Prosecutor Mr Brown said: “He effectively stalked her on her way home.”

It was as the woman turned back that Custos grabbed her and said ‘come on, you know you want it.’

She tried to fight him off for several minutes but Custos picked her up and carried her into the woods near Booker Common at 2.22am, CCTV showed. 

While in the woods, Custos touched her bottom and kissed her, before he ‘came to his senses’ and ran out at 2.29am. 

The woman returned home and called the police, who arrested Custos on March 11, 2022. 

In a victim statement, the woman said: “The first two days after the the incident my body shook uncontrollably.

“I had to lie to my children and tell them I was really cold. 

“I need to be strong during the day for my children but at night I cry. 

“Even with this man in prison I feel apprehensive and I do not know how I will cope when he is out.”

Zara Dickinson, defending, said Custos was ‘remorseful’ for what he had done. 

“He has reflected on the effect of his actions and what impact it has had on the woman in his life”, she said.

In a letter to the court, Custos wrote: “I am sorry for what I have done and what I have put her through.”

His Honour Judge Nawaz, sentencing, noted that Custos had no previous convictions and said it was a “pity” that the his actions were “out of character” on this morning.

Custos, a HGV driver, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for sexual assault and committing an offence with the intention to commit sexual assault. 

He will sign the sex offenders register for life and he was barred from contacting the victim directly or indirectly for ten years. 

Custos was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday, August 12.