A property developer who battered a woman over the head with a champagne bottle at her Knightsbridge flat when she refused to have sex with him has been sentenced.

Felix Peltier, 27, has been given 12 months supervision and 100 hours community service after he conned his way into victim Maria Asmussen's home.

When she refused to have sex with him, he grabbed her by the throat and tried to throttle her, before smashing a champagne bottle on her head three times.

Bloodied and bruised, Ms Asmussen grabbed a kitchen knife to fend off Peltier's advances and forced him out of the flat.

Similar previous offence in Soho

Peltier claimed he had only swung the champagne bottle in self defence when a kinky sex game got out of hand, but an Old Bailey jury found him guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Prosecutor Peter Walsh revealed Peltier was cautioned by police in December last year for a similar attack at Gem nightclub in Soho.

"He walked through the dancefloor, removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves before taking hold of a bottle on the bar", he said.

"He went up to the victim and from behind struck him over the head with the bottle."

After hearing Peltier also has a conviction for drink driving, Judge Stephen Kramer QC adjourned sentencing until later (January 26) for Peltier to be assessed by probation.

"What concerns me is alcohol and the possibility of there being a pattern of losing it when having drunk too much and acting aggressively," he said.

Stole the bottle of champagne

Peltier, who faces the sack from his job in student property development with the Bouygues Group, decided to target Ms Asmussen as they both emerged from a night out at private members bar Raffles in Chelsea's King's Road.

Both had been drinking gin and tonics at the exclusive venue into the early hours of September 21 2014, the court heard.

Peltier, labelled 'arrogant' during the trial, hopped into Ms Asmussen's taxi and then conned his way into her flat in Walton Street, Knightsbridge, by asking for a glass of water.

Once inside, Peltier stripped to the waist and jumped into her bed, pretending to be asleep when Ms Asmussen tried to get rid of him.

"I tried to pull him out of the bed, then he became very aggressive" she said.

"He grabbed my neck with both hands. I could breathe but very badly. He left marks on my neck and my ear.

"He very angrily jumped out of the bed and looked for his T-shirt to go home."

Peltier then pushed her to the ground and decided to try and steal a bottle of champagne from the kitchen on his way out.

When Ms Asmussen tried to wrestle the bottle from him, Peltier swung it three times at her head, leaving her covered in blood from a deep wound to her forehead.

Ms Asmussen, who still suffers panic attacks and was forced to move house in the aftermath of the assault, grabbed a kitchen knife to defend herself.

'Targeted for sex'

Prosecutor Peter Walsh said Peltier had targeted Ms Asmussen, who worked at Cafe Rouge near Harrods, for a one-night stand as soon as he saw her outside Raffles at around 4am.

"The defendant's arrogance, you might think, is apparent in so quickly sizing up Ms Asmussen outside Raffles as an easy target for sex" he said.

"They had never spoken to each other, let alone met inside Raffles and they had not set eyes on each other.

"In such a short time, a matter of seconds, he had sized her up as being easy sex when they were complete strangers waiting for a taxi."

He added: "The arrogance he displayed outside Raffles in sizing Ms Asmussen up as easy sex and he would go for her is reflected in him grabbing the champagne bottle as compensation for no sex.

"He was nicking it, stealing it, that was his entitlement. If he wasn't going to get sex he would have the expensive bottle of champagne."

'A pack of lies'

Peltier, who holds dual US and French citizenship, claimed Ms Asmussen sparked the violence when he refused to have sex with her.

He suggested she had initiated S&M-style foreplay, biting down hard on his finger, but got angry when he refused to join in.

But Mr Walsh told the court Peltier had concocted a pack of lies to hide the fact he had angrily lashed out at Ms Asmussen when she rejected him.

"She was a woman struggling to fight off a younger, fitter man, 6ft 2inches, easily able to overpower a person such as Ms Asmussen" he said.

"She was more than entitled in those circumstances of terror in her own home to grab a knife to defend herself against a man intent on having sex with her against her will."

Peltier, who has been suspended from the job he has held since 2013, was captured by police clambering over a metal gate outside Ms Asmussen's block of flats.

She suffered cuts to her head and inner thigh and bruising round the neck from the assault.

Peltier, of Portsea Place, Marble Arch, denied assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but was found guilty.

The court sentenced him to 12 months supervision and 100 hours community service, as well as £1,000 prosecution costs and £500 in compensation to Ms Asmussen.