A PENSNETT man who carried out sex attacks on schoolgirls going back ten years has been jailed for 36 months.

At Wolverhampton Crown Court, Mark Passmore of High Street, had denied eight charges of indecent assault but he was convicted by a jury after they retired to consider the evidence at the end of his trial.

Judge Martin Walsh told Passmore: "This was systematic, grotesque and lewd behaviour by you towards young girls.”

He said it was accepted the assaults were "not of the utmost severity" but they had been committed over a long period of time against three victims.

The judge further made Passmore the subject of an indefinite Sexual Offenders Protection Order and said he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Jonathan Rose, for Passmore, a man of previous good character who was also barred from ever working with children, said his client had now lost everything.

He said Passmore, a toolmaker, who had maintained in his defence the touching of the girls had been innocent and there was no sexual motive was now looking to rebuild his life on his release from custody.

Malcolm Morse, prosecuting, said Passmore who had a "propensity to behave in a certain way towards young girls" had been arrested at a time when all his three victims were adults.

Passmore had admitted a charge of beating against one of his victims and the judge jailed him for three months for that offence - to run consecutively to 33 months for the sex attacks.