A DIVORCEE played a striptease game with a 16-year-old schoolgirl before sexually assaulting her.

Christopher Windiate suggested that the loser of each session on a computer console should remove an item of clothing.

Although the victim, who drank seven bottles of a vodka-based alcopop, felt uncomfortable with the rule she agreed.

But she fell asleep on a sofa and awoke to find Windiate - down to his boxer shorts - with his hand inside her underwear, said prosecutor Lee Marklew.

Windiate, 45, of Hindlip Lane, Hindlip, near Worcester, admitted sexual assault by penetration.

Jailing him for two years, Judge Andrew Geddes said his behaviour was "an act of unbelievable folly" for his own gratification.

He ordered the defendant to sign the sex offenders' register for life.

Windiate had 30 offences on his record but none for sex crimes.

On January 26 this year he invited two teenagers and a woman in her 20s to his home, Worcester Crown Court heard.

He had previously suggested to the woman that she bring along someone who would sleep with him.

Windiate supplied the trio with alcohol, the woman consuming five cans of lager and six alcopops.

After two of the visitors went to bed, he took advantage of the schoolgirl's intoxicated state and tried to kiss her, said Marklew, before they started the game.

When she found him groping her, she ran upstairs and was seen shaking and in tears.

Windiate was arrested three days later and insisted he went further by consent.

In a statement, the victim's mother said her normally outgoing, confident daughter had become quiet, withdrawn and uninterested in boys.

Gareth Walters, defending, hoped Windiate's guilty plea would bring some relief to the victim.

Alcohol and bereavement had led to the offence and he wanted help to stop the same situation occurring again in the future.