A PENSIONER has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a third teenage girl on a bus.

John Edward Kilgannon, 67, of Evenwood Close, Hardwick, Stockton, was convicted earlier this year of reaching through a gap in the seats of a bus and “stroking” two 17-year-old girls.

Now he has been sentenced at Teesside Magistrates Court for attacking a third girl in the same way.

The latest victim, also 17, came forward after reading about how Kilgannon had targeted the first two teenagers in a newspaper report.

The first two victims were attacked on separate occasions between October and November last year on the Arriva bus service from Middlesbrough to Peterlee.

Both those times he sat behind the girls and reached through the gap in the seat to stroke the teenagers on their legs. One of them was too frightened to move and the assault lasted for 20 minutes.

One of the victims had to take several days off college and both were now sometimes frightened of older men.

The third teenage girl read the report of how Kilgannon was convicted in April this year and plucked up the courage to tell the police.

Her attack happened in 2012 when she was also 17 and riding on the Middlesbrough to Stockton bus. This time, Kilgannon sat on the seat in front of her, despite the bus being otherwise empty, and once again reached through the crack of the seat and “tickled” her between her knees and on her legs.

David Lee, prosecuting, explained there was no new Victim Assessment Report, but that she had been brought to tears by the attack and ran to her boyfriend after getting off the bus early. She, too, had become wary of men.

Brett Wildridge, mitigating, explained that his client had “significant misuse of alcohol” problems. He didn’t recall the specifics of the attack but accepted it must have been him and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. He was remorseful and accepted he had a problem.

District Judge Martin Walker was told by a probation officer that Kilgannon had failed to attend about half of his sexual offender programme sessions which were part of his original sentence. Consequently, the judge said that a two-year community order would start again from the beginning. Kilgannon must also pay £200 compensation to the third victim, the same as he was ordered to pay to the first complainants.

He was allowed to pay the compensation at just £10 a month. However, he was warned he must not miss any more sex offender programme sessions and must remain on the sex offenders’ register for five years.