A landlord faces jail after molesting a tenant who rented a room.

Mohammed Al-Shamli, 35, pounced on the 25-year-old within weeks of her moving in at his home in Hove after splitting with her boyfriend.

The divorced father of two cornered her as she left the bathroom one morning, pulling open her satin dressing gown and touching her.

Her ordeal only ended when she struggled free and barricaded herself in her room with a pile of boxes.

The victim broke down in tears as she told a jury how Al-Shamli, a former aircraft engineer, assaulted her at his two-bedroom terraced property.

She said: "He came up to me and started to touch my breast through my dressing gown.

"I tried to push him away and started crying and he pushed me against the wall. I couldn't get away."

"I told him to go away, to get off me. I got him off and managed to get in my bedroom and pushed some boxes against the door.

"I got some clothes on and went out the house."

The woman, who had paid him £200 for five weeks' rent, moved out of the property after just three weeks and contacted police after going to a friend "crying and shaking".

Syrian Al-Shamli admitted "fancying" the woman but denied he sexually assaulted her.

He told Lewes Crown Court they sat chatting into the "small hours" on the first night she moved in.

He said: "I did ask her to go out on the first day she moved in. I thought being mates I was being friendly."

Al-Shamli was convicted of indecent assault but cleared of assault on two previous occasions.

Judge Thomas Joseph released Al-Shamli on bail pending pre-sentence reports but warned him he could face jail.