CHILD protection chiefs reacted with fury last night when a sex attacker escaped prison after blaming his seven-year-old victim for provoking an assault.

Sixty-one year old John Thompson claimed he was helpless as the youngster pinned him down and forced her tongue into his mouth.

Judge Gillian Matthews said he was “a potentially high risk” to girls but that giving him a suspended sentence was the only way he could receive treatment.

The decision provoked outrage from children’s charities.

They said Thompson should not have been allowed back on the streets.

Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association of People Abused in Childhood, said: “It is outrageous that he got a non-custodial sentence.

“The man is clearly a danger to society, and particularly to children, and shame on the judge for passing what we consider is such a despicable sentence.”

In an interview with police, 61-year-old Thompson said: “I knew it was wrong, but somehow our mouths became open. I could not push her off.”

The former brewery worker told The Northern Echo after the case: “I regret it and can assure everyone that nothing like this will ever, ever happen again.”

Teesside Crown Court heard how police were called in January last year when the girl’s grandmother found out about Thompson’s inappropriate behaviour.

Tina Dempster, prosecuting, said: “He indicated that her behaviour towards him was sexualised and essentially was flirting with him and coming onto him.

“He described an incident whereby he was sitting on the bed, she came towards him, sat astride him, pushed him down and forced her tongue into his mouth.”

A probation report said Thompson groomed the girl – described as needing attention and tactile – but his barrister said the youngster had instigated sexual contact.

Tamara Pawson, mitigating, added: “He accepts that he should have stopped her there, rather than reciprocating and kissing her back.

“But it cannot be said he had an intention to exploit or groom a vulnerable young girl.

“It is clear that Mr Thompson does have a somewhat worrying attitude towards the offence, and that’s something that needs to be addressed.”

Children’s charity Kidscape said: “It is absolutely unacceptable for a 61-year-old man to claim that a seven-year-old girl made sexual advances to him that he could not prevent.

“The responsibility must lie with the adult. However precocious the child, her vulnerability should have been evident.

“The adult male should have taken direct action to prevent the situation, and the relevant agencies should have been alerted.”

Miss Pawson urged Judge Gillian Matthews not to jail Thompson because he would need a four-year sentence to get treatment behind bars.

She also said that locking up the grandfather, of Glastonbury Walk, Hartlepool , would punish his disabled partner, for whom he is a fulltime carer.

Thompson admitted a charge of sexual assault and was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with probation service supervision.

He was also put on the sex offenders’ register, banned from having unsupervised contact with girls under 16 and ordered to attend a treatment programme.

Judge Matthews told him: “You are a man of good character and that is an important feature in the sentencing assessment, and also you have pleaded guilty.”

The problem of prison treatment for sex offenders was highlighted in a national report earlier this week.

The study, by the prisons and probation inspectorates, warned that many prisons were failing to rehabilitate sex offenders.

They found that one in three sex offenders did not receive any treatment – one in four were not even given a serious risk assessment.