A DRUNKEN groper who sexually assaulted a teenager while she slept told her: "I thought you were my girlfriend."

The 17-year-old woke on a sofa to find Mark Pittam, 51, touching her stomach under her pyjama top with both hands.

Pittam persisted despite her attempts to get away by rolling over, prosecutor Shaun Dodds told Teesside Crown Court.

The girl - described in court as vulnerable - finally said “stop” when he touched her chest, said Mr Dodds yesterday.

When confronted he said “I thought you were my girlfriend”, before leaving, saying: “Please don’t call the police.”

She later said the assault left her extremely upset, crying, shaking, not knowing what to do and feeling unsafe.

Pittam told police he could not really remember what happened because had so much beer to drink that night in July.

John Nixon, mitigating, told Judge Tony Briggs: “He has expressed his utter remorse, disgust and disgrace.

“He’s never done anything like this before and it does seem this occurred in very specific circumstances.

“It’s never happened before. You may think, in fact, it will never happen again.

“He’s had two long-term relationships without incident. He’s now in a relationship which has endured for about one year. The lady’s in court with whom he resides.

“He has a drink problem. There have been issues with it. They’re being dealt with and he’s put his life back on track.”

Pittam, now of Queen Street, Scarborough, admitted the sexual assault, which happened in Middlesbrough, although he initially told police he thought the victim was his partner.

Judge Briggs told him: “This was an unpleasant business. It was something no girl of the age of the victim should have been required to undergo.

“You were drunk at the time. It did go on long enough to seriously alarm and upset the unfortunate victim.

“I’m quite certain on this occasion the basic problem about you was your long-standing trouble with drink. That slackened your inhibitions."

He passed an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years with 35 days’ rehabilitation activity.

Pittam was given a sexual harm prevention order which bans him from having unsupervised contact with under-18s, and contacting them on social media.

The order will last for ten years, and he will have to sign the sex offenders' register for the same length of time.