A Woodley nurse has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a vulnerable 85-year-old woman after visiting her home under the pretence of a fake care visit.

Steven Hicks, of Quentin Road, was found guilty of attacking the pensioner following a two-week trial at Reading Crown Court - during which he denied any wrongdoing.

Jurors heard that, prior to the incident, Hicks researched his victim using NHS records, which he had access to as part of his job.

The 60 year old knew the pensioner lived alone following a previous legitimate care visit in December 2021.

The court heard how on January 5, 2022, Hicks went to the pensioner's home dressed in the blue scrubs of an NHS nurse.

He wore a mask and glasses to conceal his identity, and asked the woman if he could come in for a routine medical examination.

The victim invited him in and lay down on a bed - at which point Hicks penetrated her with his fingers and placed his face against crotch. When the woman resisted, the defendant apologised telling her he had got "carried away", and fled the premises.

The victim was unable to identify her attacker, but DNA found on her person was subsequently matched to Hicks.

At trial, he denied a charge of sexual assault in relation to the incident. He claimed to have been at home on the afternoon of January 5.

However, phone evidence placed him in the area at the time of the attack.

Mere days after he assaulted the woman, Hicks accessed a report on the incident online. He told police he had sought out the article after seeing a Reading Chronicle headline.

But the court heard that the Chronicle did not run a front-page story on the attack until after Hicks had read about it on the Internet.

Today, a jury of four men and eight women returned a guilty verdict.

Hicks will be sentenced on January 25.