A WORTHING man who was jailed after he threw ammonia in a woman’s eyes before sexually assaulting her failed in a Court of Appeal bid to clear his name.

Matthew Johnson, 27, met his victim in a pub in 2016 and left with her in a car, before forcing her to stop in a car park, near Steyning.

He hit her in the face and grabbed her hair, then squirted ammonia into her face, before kicking her when she fell gasping for breath to the ground.

Johnson took her to a petrol station to clean her eyes, but then returned with her to the car park and sexually assaulted her.

He was convicted of sexual assault, applying a corrosive fluid with intent, criminal damage and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was jailed for 10 years, with a four-year extended licence period, at Lewes Crown Court in May.

He appealed against his convictions last month, claiming a prosecution mistake in submitting court documents made his trial invalid.

On the original charge sheet, he had faced a string of charges which did not include the accusation of throwing the ammonia at the victim.

By the time the case reached trial, the prosecution had evidence of what the liquid was and added the charge to the list he faced.

His lawyers claimed on appeal that the new charges had not been properly put to him and so the verdicts could not stand.

The appeal was heard alongside another unrelated case in October, but on Thursday Sir Brian Leveson returned to the London court to uphold the convictions.

The judge said the fact that the correct charges were uploaded onto the court computer system meant they were properly put forward.

The convictions were upheld.