Stoke man who kissed girl, 4, on bus is jailed
A pervert has been arrested after he kissed a four-year-old girl on her lips on a bus.
Robert Colclough sat next to the girl on the bus and allowed her to see a game on his mobile phone before asking her to give hime a kiss.
She tried to walk away but the 44-year-old grabbed her and kissed her on the lips.
According to the Stoke Sentinel, the youngster was travelling to Hanley with her family when the incident happened. She was sitting towards the back of the bus with her sister while the rest of her family sat at the front of the bus.
Colclough was arrested and police found thousands of indecent images of children on his phones.
Colclough has been jailed for eight months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court – to run consecutively to a three-year, four-month sentence he received in April for robbery and possession of a knife in public.
Prosecuter Fiona Cortese said: "He sat next to the girl and engaged her and her sister. He asked about the game they were playing.
"She said she was four years old. He allowed her to see a game on his mobile.
"He asked the girl to give him a kiss. She tried to walk away. He grabbed her by the hand, turned her round, and kissed her on her lips."
The girl pointed the defendant out to her mother when they got off the bus at Hanley bus station.
Police attended Colclough's home in Maidstone Grove, Bentilee and Miss Cortese said: "Officers noticed a number of children's Thomas the Tank Engines."
He said he was single, did not have children, and collected Thomas the Tank Engine trains.
His mobile phones were analysed and found to contain two category A images – the most serious – two at category B and 2,332 at category C, reports Staffs Live.
Coclough admitted to officers that he had downloaded the images and said he was addicted to them. He added that he "wasn't right in the head".
He pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child and nine charges of possession of indecent photographs of children.
Defending, Robin Lichfield said: "He accepts what he has done is wrong and that there are no excuses at all.
"It was at a time when he was under particular stress at work and he had been drinking.
"He had previously committed a robbery back in January and had wanted to harm himself so he cut his arms.
"He has expressed he is sorry and hopes she is not traumatised and is sorry to the family – these are his words."
Colclough received eight months for sexual assault, and three sentences of four months, two months and one month for the indecent images, to be served concurrently.
He also received a sexual offences prevention order and will remain on the sexual offenders register for 10 years.
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