A MAN stroked a 13-year-old boy's thigh as they travelled on a bus in Hereford.

Anthony Bennett, aged 64, also tried to put his arm round the victim's shoulders after they got off.

He denied to police being on the bus but the boy picked him out on an identification parade, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Bennett, of Crossfields, Whitecross, Hereford, admitted indecent assault.

Judge Andrew Geddes sentenced him to a three-year community rehabilitation order and told him to register as a sex offender for five years.

Bennett got on the bus on December 23 last year in Sheridan Road, said Graham Cliff, prosecuting.

He sat next to the boy and tried to put his hand into the boy's trouser pocket but the teenager knocked it away.

Twice Bennett stroked the teenager's right thigh and then followed him in the street. He warned the victim he would find out where he lived, said Mr Cliff.

Gareth Walters, defending, revealed that in 1976 Bennett was convicted of indecently assaulting a woman. He also had convictions for theft.