A MAN has been told he needs to think about how his victim feels after he sexually assaulted her on a train.

Roger Hobbs, aged 63, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl on a train between Worces-ter and Droitwich when he appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court.

Sarah Stock, prosecuting, told the court how two girls got onto the train at about 10.30pm on Tuesday, February 9.

One of the girls became aware of Hobbs watching her in the reflection of the window.

He then engaged the pair in conversation, saying, “Do you know men are better than boys”, and “Come to Walsall, that is where you find real men” – before telling them he was 25 years old.

Hobbs then reached across and touched the skin on the victim’s back, just above the elastic on her leggings.

She immediately got up and moved, pulling her knees up under her chin.

Hobbs was arrested as soon as the train arrived in Birmingham.

But when questioned, Hobbs, of Walstead Road, Walsall, said he had engaged in “friendly banter” with the girls, who he thought were 18.

He also admitted having had about 12 pints, which had made him more confident.

Ms Stock told the court about the victim impact statement, in which the teenager revealed she no longer felt safe to go on trains at night and how she was worried he may do the same thing again to a younger girl.

Isaaq Shafi, defending, said his client – who has lived with his 86-year-old mother most of his life – could be seen as a little eccentric but he did not intend his touching to be sexual.

Mr Shafi said: “He is a man of considerable age who has never really sustained a relationship and has spent most of his life living with his mother.

“She has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and he cares for her on a day-to-day basis.

“He went to Worcester to alleviate the depression because of his mother’s diagnosis.

“Trips out like this are a way to alleviate the depression. But he accepts the drinking is a problem.

“He is both deeply embarrassed and deeply ashamed.”

District judge Bruce Morgan said: “What you must sit back and think is not only how petrified the young girls must have been but also how disgusted they must have been simply to be looked at as objects of sexual desire.”

Hobbs was given a supervision requirement with a community penalty for three years, which demands he complete the community sex offenders’ programme.

He was also ordered to pay the victim £350 compensation and £150 court costs.

Hobbs will now be signed up to the sex offenders’ register for five years.