APPEAL judges have deferred a decision on whether a convicted rapist can launch a fight against his sentence.

Sultan Mohammed stalked the student halls at Essex University campus looking for somebody to attack.

He denied raping the woman but was convicted following a trial and jailed for eight years.

But the 26-year-old has made an application for leave to appeal his conviction.

The Court of Appeal heard his case last week, but no decision has been made.

A spokesman said: "The court reserved judgment.

"That means they heard the case but did not give judgment there and then.

"The case will be relisted in due course and they will give their judgment then."

During Mohammed's original trial, Ipswich Crown Court heard he was on the Colchester campus in the early hours of the morning during Fresher's Week in 2018 and managed to gain access to a block of flats via an insecure door.

He then got into a room, stripped naked and raped the victim as she slept.

When she challenged him, Mohammed said his name was Michael and claimed they had met at a nightclub.

He left the area but was caught on CCTV trying other windows and doors across campus.

Police later discovered a hand print on a window before searching his address in Almond Way, Colchester.

Mohammed, who has an international business management degree, was also handed a restraining order by Judge David Pugh and a ban from the campus on top of his jail sentence.

The case led to a review of security at all the university’s accommodation blocks and extra CCTV cameras being installed.

At the end of the trial in April last year, the victim said the ordeal had left her emotionally distant, anxious and so frequently sad she had sought therapy.