A TEENAGER who groped a woman from behind while she paid for her shopping must carry out 180 hours of unpaid work as punishment.

Liam Breski, 19, of Daniels Court, was ordered to carry out the work as part of a 10-month community order which also includes 20 rehab activity days.

The order was made after he pleaded guilty to sexual assault at Swindon Magistrates Court on Friday.

Pauline Lambert, prosecuting, said: “At around 6.15pm on September 19, the victim had gone to the Premier store on Cricklade Road.

“She was paying for her items at the counter when she heard the door open and a person grabbed her bottom.

“As she is walking home a few minutes after leaving the shop, the same man approached her on a bike.

“He makes vulgar comments towards her and claims that what had happened was ‘the best thing I did all day’.

“CCTV released to the media lead to his identification.

“In interview, he said he didn’t remember anything about the day.

“He suffers from Asperger’s and depression, he said he’d been going through a tough time recently and had turned to alcohol and drugs.

“He said he felt sorry for her after viewing the CCTV footage.”

A statement from his victim was read out in court.

It said: “I was very shocked and scared when it happened, I didn’t know what to do when I got home.

“I felt so dirty, I had two showers to wash his hands off me, I couldn’t sleep, I kept thinking about what he had said and done to me.

“I took four days off work and when I came back to work I burst into tears.

“I’m very jumpy when men walk close to me, I was worried about bumping into him again.

“I often think ‘How dare he do this to me’, I have never been treated in that way before, you don’t think it could happen to you.

“If this man could do that to me, he could do that to other women.”

Emma Thacker, defending, said: “He understands fully that this is not appropriate behaviour and there are no ongoing concerns about his behaviour towards women.

“He has shown empathy and genuine remorse for what he’s done, he said he found the victim’s statement incredibly difficult to listen to and he’s very sorry for the impact he’s had on her life.

“He seems to have suffered from lack of support in relation to his mental health and his Asperger’s.

“There was a relationship breakdown, he turned to alcohol and, to a lesser extent, drugs – vodka can induce blackouts which may be why he doesn’t remember what happened.

“Since then, he has worked very hard to address these issues.”

Breski must also pay £85 in costs and £85 to victim services.