Man, 27, groped women in town’s streets
A “DANGEROUS” pervert who admitted groping women while they were walking in the streets for almost a decade has been jailed.
Mark Maxwell received sexual gratification from the assaults, which took place in Penarth, where he lived, and he admitted to police he had been committing similar assaults for nine years.
The 27-year-old was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday after he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault at an earlier hearing.
Prosecutor Thomas Roberts told the court the first assault took place in Plassey Street, Penarth, on February 14 this year.
He said: “The complainant was walking along the street and the defendant was walking on the opposite side.
“He crossed the road in front of her and carried on walking towards her. As he approached he made eye contact with her, and she looked away.
“He reached out and touched her on the right thigh and squeezed her right buttock.”
Maxwell was identified by officers from CCTV and he was arrested, but he gave no comment in an interview with police. He was on bail when he committed his second offence.
Defence barrister Sue Ferrier described her client as falling in the autistic spectrum and as someone who “struggled in the community”.
Sentencing, Judge Stephen Hopkins QC said: “You showed no remorse. You are a dangerous young man.”
Maxwell, of Mountjoy Crescent, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and was made subject to the sexual offenders’ register indefinitely.