^{Not even welcome as a jailhouse lawyer.}

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A former Eversheds Sutherland trainee jailed for sexually assaulting sleeping students has been banned from the legal profession.

The SRA said that Thomas Hagyard "has been convicted of a criminal offence which is such that it is undesirable for him to be involved in a legal practice". 

The order specifies that no solicitors or their employees may employ Hagyard or pay him in connection with their legal practice, and nor may they or permit him to have an interest in a regulated body without the SRA's permission.

Hagyard was jailed for eight years last October for sexually assaulting two women at a colleague's house-warming party. 

Hagyard, 25 at the time of the attacks in October 2017, had only recently started as a trainee at Eversheds. Earlier the same evening he had treated his parents and sisters to a Michelin-starred meal to celebrate his first paycheck.

At the party in a flat in Fulham, a law student who took herself to bed after drinking heavily was "sound asleep" when Hagyard "began to touch her sexually", Isleworth Crown Court heard. 

The woman told the court she woke up to find Hagyard on top of her. "I was going in and out of consciousness and did not think I could move. I froze a bit...I remember trying to push him away." 

Another woman who was sleeping in the lounge "was woken at 5.30am by someone touching her chest," said the prosecutor. "The top of her bra had been pulled to one side and a man's hand was on her breast. She felt his mouth next to her ear and the words: 'Shush. It's okay'".

"Having touched her breast he moved his hand to her belt and began to undo the buckle. She was scared and she got up and went quickly to the host's bedroom", said the prosecutor.

Hagyard claimed the sexual activity was consensual and that both women were "enjoying it."

The court convicted Hagyard of two counts of assault by penetration in relation to the first woman and two counts of sexual assault in relation to the second woman. The jury failed to reach a verdict on one count of rape in respect of the first woman.

Recorder Simon Russell Flint QC told Hagyard, "You have concocted an account you hoped would be accepted” and said the man’s family would “have to face the reality their son, who was destined to be a highly successful solicitor, is a sex offender, who preyed on two young women”.

Eversheds Sutherland suspended Hagyard in October 2017 when it first became aware of the allegations, and terminated his training contract in 2018.

Hagyard was ordered to pay the SRA's £600 costs investigating for the ban.