A DRUNKEN man grabbed a teenage girl at a bus stop, kissed her, then touched her breast, a court heard yesterday.

Robert Passmore, 54, of Cotswold Place, Peterlee, admitted a charge of indecent assault in the town's Burnhope Way, on August 15 last year, at Teesside Crown Court.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, told the court a 15-year-old girl was standing at the bus stop at about 7.40pm when she saw a man getting out of car.

He said the man then approached her and said something "incomprehensible" to her before putting his arms around her and in her words "slobbered" over her with his mouth on her face.

He said: "He smelt strongly of alcohol. He continued to kiss her and hold her tightly for about a minute. He then touched her right breast over her clothing for about five seconds before walking away.

"She was extremely frightened and shocked. But then he walked back towards this young woman and told her his name before entering a nearby public house."

The girl called the police, who found Passmore in the same public house about two hours later, he said.

Paul Cleasby, for Passmore, said his client was disgusted by his behaviour and was ashamed of himself.

He said that Passmore had not tried to conceal his identity and that the attack had happened in daylight.

Judge John Walford said the incident was a "spur of the moment piece of stupidity in drink" but that was not to minimise the upset he must have caused his victim.

He ordered Passmore to complete a two-year community rehabilitation order, with a condition of attending a sex offenders' treatment programme.

Passmore was also placed on the sex offenders' register for five years and ordered to pay £414 prosecution costs.