Oliver Smail sexually assaulted a woman after a drugs and booze fuelled night out in south London
(Picture: MPS)The director of an architectural firm who sexually assaulted a woman while she slept on a sofa after a drug and booze-fuelled night out has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.
Oliver Smail, 31, preyed on the woman while high on cocaine after a bar crawl through east London, pulling down her underwear and touching her intimately.
A university friend of Smails’ tried repeatedly to stop him from touching the woman, Inner London crown court heard, and even sent a text to another pal saying the architect was “literally attempting rape on the sofa”.
Smail insisted immediately after the attack that he “thought she consented”, but then denied any sexual contact when the case came to trial. He was convicted by a jury of sexual assault by penetration, and jailed on Friday for three-and-a-half years.
Judge Benedict Kelleher said: “You did not intend to commit a sexual offence towards her, but in your uninhibited and intoxicated state you made the fateful decision to do that.
“It had real and lasting effects – assaults of this kind can have very bad effects upon victims.”
In an impact statement, the woman said: “I was vulnerable when he decided to assault me, I was asleep and had no way of defending myself.
“This haunts me to this day.”
She accused Smail of “acting in a predatory way”, adding: “It frustrates me that he hasn’t admitted what he has done. I hope he will and take accountability for his actions.”
Smail, a former planning officer at Aylesbury Vale District Council who now runs his own architectural design firm, had been socialising with friends from the University of Kent on the night of the attack, on September 8, 2019.
He, Tom Madden, and Alexander Hodgson-Doughty had been to a series of drinking establishments including the Three Sheets bar in Dalston, meeting the woman and her friend during the day.
Members of the group had been drinking heavily, taking ecstasy and cocaine, and they bought a bottle of gin, and tonic to take back to Mr Hodgson-Doughty’s flat in Walworth.
Eventually the woman said she went to sleep on the sofa in the living room and “remembers Tom trying to drag (Smail) off me, saying ‘stop touching her’”, the court heard.
“I sort of started to realise he kept on touching me and being inappropriate”, she said.
“I switched and lay on the other side of the sofa, it seemed to stop and I wanted to sleep.”
She said she later woke up to find her underwear and Spanx leggings had been pulled down, with Smail touching her intimately between her legs.
Mr Madden told the court he was “uncomfortable” with his friend’s behaviour and tried to stop him from getting on to the sofa.
“I thought it was quite crazy, trying to make something happen”, he said. “Because of the way he was, he wasn’t in his right mind.
“I tried to pull him off the sofa several times, I was saying ‘no, sit on the floor’.”
After the attack, Smail was confronted by the woman’s irate friend who demanded to know what had happened.
Smail, who has a Masters in Architecture from Kingston University, tried to hide his face with a pillow before saying “I thought she consented”, the court heard.
During the trial, he denied sexual contact and claimed the woman had squeezed his hand and pushed her leg into his groin. He claimed the “consent” comment had been about him touching her leg.
Ahead of the sentencing hearing, Smail wrote a letter to the judge expressing remorse, and it was said he “bitterly regrets” going out that night.
Smail, from Aylesbury, denied but was convicted of sexual assault by penetration.
