Driving instructor Juma Kagwa, 47, terrified a shy young woman pupil by sexually groping her twice during a two hour lesson just days before she was due to take her test, a jury has decided.

Kagwa, a dad of five, of Horsefair Street, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, pleaded not guilty to three charges of molesting the 20-year-old pupil in his driving school car on August 15, but the jury at Gloucester Crown Court convicted him of two of the charges by majority verdicts.

The jury at Cirencester Courthouse could not agree on a verdict on the third allegation, however, and was discharged from doing so. The prosecution then offered no evidence on that charge and Kagwa was cleared of it.

The judge, Recorder Don Tait, ordered a pre-sentence report on Kagwa, a man of previous good character, and bailed him pending sentence on November 25.

During the trial, the jury heard that the woman had 20 driving lessons with Kagwa before the day of the incident.

Prosecutor Neil Treharne said: "She was a shy person who had difficulty making eye contact with other people and she had become concerned that Mr Kagwa had become more and more personal with her during her lessons.

"During lessons his conversation started to become smutty. He once told her 'I like your body and I like your voice.'

"He was saying he wanted to be friends with her after the lessons and when she had passed her test. He asked her about her personal relationships and said 'Why don't you try a guy like me?'

"He also said he liked 'bigger girls' such as her and asked if she liked 'big men' like him."

His behaviour came to a head during the lesson of August 15, said the barrister.

The first offence during the lesson was when Mr Kagwa touched her left leg with his right hand as she drove, he said.

"He started rubbing his hand up and down over her jeans and across and down the inside of her thigh, using his open palm.

"He went down towards her knee and right up towards her groin. He was telling her while he did this that he was just trying to calm her down.

"Then he said: 'Do you want to try me?'

She replied 'I don't, no.' She felt really uncomfortable at this stage, but she didn't want to say anything to annoy him. "

Mr Treharne said Kagwa told her to pull over into a layby and he got out of the car and took the magnetic driving school sign off the car roof.

"She became very scared. She couldn't understand why he did that. She was panicking," said Mr Treharne.

"He told her to drive to Crickley Hill (a country park near Cheltenham). It is a local beauty spot with a car park.

"He instructed her where to park there. He then took the keys out of the ignition and walked around to her side of the car. He opened the door and asked her to get out and go for a walk with him.

"These are not the actions of any normal driving instructor.

"She was feeling very nervous, and she refused to go with him. She thought the worst might happen. She thought she could have been raped.

"She did not want to get hurt and she was afraid to follow him. She stayed in the car while Mr Kagwa went for a walk.

"She then sent a desperate Snapchat message to a friend saying 'Help, I think I'm going to get raped.'

Kagwa returned to the car and as she drove away from the country park, he put his arm around the back of her and rubbed her back, the barrister said.

"He moved his hand across her shoulders, squeezing her skin through the top of her jacket. She could feel this through her clothing. "

Mr Treharne said the woman drove back to her home street. She felt angry and worried and she grabbed her bag and left, telling him she did not want his advances and adding 'I don't want to do any of that.'

She later texted him saying she did not want any more lessons from him and she blocked him on her phone, said the prosecutor.

However, Kagwa continued trying to contact her by WhatsApp and he approached her in the street as she walked to work the next day.

When she got into work she broke down and was comforted by concerned colleagues. She then reported Kagwa to the police.

In evidence, the woman said that during the incident when Kagwa took the driving school sign off the car he had got back in and grabbed her hand.

"He was rubbing my hand and then he put my hand on his crotch area. I tried to pull my hand away but he wouldn't let me go. He said things like 'You make me really hard.'

The woman was tears as she told the jury "I was uncomfortable, I was really freaked. "

She said that at Crickley Hill she initially got out of the car to go with Kagwa when he suggested a 'calming' walk - but then she thought better of it, asked him for the keys, and got back into the car. He then tried to kiss her, she said.

After she got home she sent him a text saying "Hi, I will no longer need driving lessons" and then blocked him on her phone, she added

She was 'in complete shock' the next day when he ran up behind her as she walked to work in Cheltenham, she said.

He kept shouting at her 'why did you block me?' and reminding her that she had her test that week, said the woman.

"I rang work and spoke to a colleague who came running out to get me. By the time she got to me he had gone. I went into work and rang 999."

Kagwa insisted in evidence that he had never touched the woman sexually but said he had tried to comfort her because she was stressed about seeing two men she knew crossing the road in front of her and also because she was anxious about having her first proper date with a man that night.

She had become difficult during the lesson, complaining about him overcharging her and she was upset when he told her that he did not think she was test ready, he added.

He told the jury he had been an 'idiot' to approach the woman on her way to work the next day. He denied going there deliberately to confront her and said he had just happened to see her as he drove past.