A SOUTHAMPTON university student has been handed a suspended prison sentence after sexually assaulting a teenage girl at a music festival.

Daniel Buck’s 17-year-old victim repeatedly told him to leave her alone but he continued to touch her during the incident at the Y-Not Festival near Matlock, Derbyshire, in 2015, Derby Crown Court was told.

The girl later became the target of gossip on social media and was branded a liar at the school where she was a student.

Now 20-year-old Buck has been handed a ten-month jail term, suspended for two years, after taking full responsibility for his actions.

Judge Nirmal Shant QC told him: “What you did was not just upsetting but made her the subject of rumours and innuendo. It seems the incident sparked a storm of whispering and murmuring which she is still suffering.”

Buck was only 17 when the offence took place .

Ian Way, prosecuting, said the victim went there with a group of friends but was told to leave her tent. She later met members of Buck’s group and was invited to sleep in his tent, which he was sharing with a male friend.

Mr Way said: “The defendant opened his sleeping bag and closed it over him and the victim.

“She told police she pushed him away 15 to 20 times but he would not take no for an answer. She said this carried on for 20 to 30 minutes and then stopped.”

Buck, of Taylor Crescent, Chesterfield, pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

Steve Gosnall, mitigating, said: “He fully accepts his wrongdoing. He is bitterly sorry for what he has done.”

As well as being handed a suspended jail term, Buck was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.