A FORMER Alloa footballer has been found guilty of sexual assault after putting his hands up the skirt of a woman in a Stirling nightclub.

Isaac Layne was found guilty after a trial at Stirling Sheriff Court yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon.

He assaulted the 20-year-old Stirling University student during a Halloween night out at Dusk last year.

In her evidence, the woman said Layne approached her more than once and wouldn't leave her alone.

While on the dance floor, she became aware of a tall black male in an unbuttoned shirt – who turned out to be Layne – dancing "very, very close" behind her.

She told the court: "He came up behind me and put his hands on my waist. He was trying to grind on me.

"I was trying to get away. I moved my shoulder back to try to brush him off and put my hand up.

"He wouldn't go away. He put his hand under my skirt on my thighs, three to four inches above my knee. I felt his hands graze my underwear.

"They were on the bikini line of my pants.

"I was shouting at him to go away and my friend was also telling him to go away, but he wouldn't, it just progressed.

"He was putting his hands on my legs and moving them onto my thighs.

"I wasn't wearing tights and I could feel his hands going onto my upper thighs."

The distraught woman then went to the toilet and she burst into tears. She then took a "breather" and a friend helped to calm her down.

She agreed to go back on the dance floor, only for Layne to move in once more.

The woman continued: "We went back into the club to find my housemates. He came back up behind me again.

"We were dancing right in front of the DJ.

"I tried to move back with my friends but he continued trying to dance with me, again being very 'handsy', putting his hands on my waist."

She added: "I was quite unnerved and scared."

Eventually, the woman's friends spoke to bouncers and Layne was ejected from Dusk.

After the trial, Layne, 23, of Springburn, Glasgow, was found guilty of sexual assaulting the woman by rubbing her thighs under her skirt.

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson said there was no evidence to support a further allegation that he had also touched the woman's private parts, and this was deleted.

Prosecutor Gail Russell told the court: "It's quite clear that there was unwanted sexual attention from the accused."

Layne did not give evidence, but his lawyer, Robert Smith, argued it had been a case of mistaken identity.

He said there had been an American Football team in the club that night, 60 per cent of which were black players.

Sentence was deferred until October 25 for reports and assessment of the risk that Layne poses to women.

He was placed on the sex offenders' register and released on bail.

Layne played for Alloa between 2015 and 2017 and spent time on loan at Stirling Albion.

He is currently on the books at Stranraer FC.