Hartlepool pervert sexually assaulted young woman after following her onto bus in Middlesbrough

Ashley Wynn sexually assaulted the shocked victim after he followed her onto a bus in Middlesbrough and sat next to her.

The 47-year-old pervert, who is from Hartlepool and was highly drunk, put his hand down the victim’s jeans and carried on despite the woman telling him to stop.

Jenny Haigh, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court heard, said Wynn began to stroke the woman’s back and caress her waist.

She said: “He put his hand down the back of her jeans and inside her underwear and touched her bum.

"She told him to stop and she pushed his hand away. He then put his hand back down her knickers and continued to do that.”

The woman, who has been left too scared to travel by bus since, helped identify Wynn by filming him on her phone after he stopped.

In an impact statement, the she described feeling “really scared” and dirty afterwards and has experienced flashbacks and nightmares.

She said: “I’m now scared to get on any buses in case any similar incidents happen again.”

Wynn, of Esha Ness Court, Hartlepool, has previous convictions for sexual assault and indecent exposure.

Nigel Soppitt, mitigating, said alcohol was the root cause of Wynn’s offending following the breakdown of his marriage.

He added Wynn was sorry and had pleaded guilty.

Sentencing him to 16 months in prison, Judge Jonathan Carroll said: “This kind of offending leaves persistent long term harm, emotional and psychological harm, on wholly innocent women who had done nothing other than go about their lawful day to day business.”