Wayne Herrington

A sex offender who had already received a suspended sentence for sexually assaulting a police officer went on to target an underage girl at a North Yorkshire bus station.

Wayne Herrington, 47, followed the schoolgirl when she tried to move away from him, then committed three sexual offences against her.

York Crown Court heard the girl was sitting with a friend when Herrington approached and began talking to her. Appearing drunk, he asked her age.

She told him how old she was and moved to another bench. He followed her.

Prosecutor James Yearsley said Herrington then spoke sexually to the child and sexually assaulted her. The incident was captured on the bus station’s CCTV.

The girl initially did not report what had happened. But after seeing Herrington again in the same town a few days later, she became concerned and went to police.

Herrington, of no fixed address, admitted causing a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual assault and sexual communication with a child.

The court heard he already had a conviction for sexually assaulting a female police officer, for which he received a 16-week suspended prison sentence a year earlier.

During that assault, he grabbed the officer’s bottom with both hands, the prosecution said.

Sentencing him for the offences against the girl, the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, condemned his conduct:

“It was a dirty old man leching at a young girl while you were drunk.”

Herrington was jailed for seven months.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and made subject to a five-year restraining order prohibiting all contact with the girl.