A 73-YEAR-OLD Kidderminster pensioner grabbed the breasts of a 14-year-old girl who was pestering him for a cigarette, Worcester Crown Court was told.

She ran off from his garden in Westminster Road, Habberley estate, and later reported his action to her teacher and the police, said Jason Aris, prosecuting.

David Martin pleaded guilty to sexual assault on the basis he had been the victim for two years of children asking him for cigarettes. He had mostly refused them but on the day of the assault he had felt particularly vulnerable.

His barrister, Abigail Nixon, said he conceded it was an inappropriate action to grab the girl but he was at the end of his tether because of the pestering and was virtually a prisoner in his own home.

He had been complaining that the kids would not leave him alone in asking for cigarettes.

Mr Aris said Martin was jailed for five years in 1999 for sexual assault and this conviction took him over the custody threshold, said Judge Michael Cullum.

But there was no evidence of grooming in the recent offence, otherwise there would have been a 12-month jail sentence.

But he decided to impose a three-year community order with supervision at a community sex offender group work programme. He also ordered Martin to register as a sex offender for five years and pay £250 costs.