A SHY student who touched a girl on the waist as he tried to talk to her was ordered to pay her £250 compensation today.

Jamie Griffiths, 19, Googled ''how to make a friend'' before making contact with the fellow pupil during two attempts to engage her in conversations as she walked to and from school.

The victim, then 17, who was due to sit her mock exams burst into tears during the second encounter and went to police with her mother saying Griffiths would have touched her breast had she not moved away.

She later described how her school work had suffered and how she was unable to sit her mock exams.

The teenager also said the unwanted touching had hindered her application process to Oxford University.

In a statement to police, she said: ''I felt extremely anxious in the following weeks often breaking down into tears. I was completely unable to walk anywhere by myself without being overcome by fear.

“I had mock exams and the stress and anxiety meant that I was unable to focus or revise as I was continuously crying and feeling unsafe even in my own home.

“I was scared to walk by myself with my parents having to pick me up and drop me off it wasn’t until late November that I felt confident.

CONVICTED OF SEX ASSAULT

“Even to this day six months later I feel anxious and worried whenever I have to go there, every time I go to the place the first incident took place my heart stops and I mentally prepare myself to see him there.

“All of this happening when I’m in my final year at school I’m afraid it will have affected my grades and potentially my future.''

At Manchester magistrates court, Griffiths who lives with his parents in a £650,000 house in the affluent town of Knutsford, Cheshire, faced jail after he was convicted of two charges of sexual assault.

But he was ordered to complete a 12 months community order with 200 hours unpaid work and was told he must sign the Sex Offender Register for the next five years.

The first year criminology student, who is now studying at Durham University, denied the charges claiming he was a “shy, anxious and awkward” teenager.

He said he had clumsily approached the girl in an attempt “to make a friend but the words didn't come out.”

The incidents occurred between October and November last year whilst the pair were studying A levels at a secondary school in Knutsford.

Now aged 18, the girl said she had been walking home from an English lesson when she encountered Griffiths on a railway bridge bordering farmer's fields in the town.

He touched her on the arm as she tried to avoid him and he walked away.

However, she said she encountered Griffiths again at lunchtime as she was on her way to school to sit a timed English essay.

AWKWARD ENCOUNTER

The girl told the court: ''The pavement was quite wide but he suddenly moved to walk in front of me, looked me straight in the eye and touches me on my side and walked off.

“It was quite a while – three to five seconds.

“He smirked at me, he didn’t stop he just touched me and walked off and I broke down crying in the street – it was quite traumatic.

“I had reported the previous incident to the police to days before hand as it had been going around that other incidents had occurred and I thought I could give more evidence and then it happened again.

“It came up on a local Facebook group chat.

“I broke down in tears straight away and rang my mum. She picked me up, we went straight to the house and then went straight to the police station and reported the incident.”

'LEARNING CURVE'

Griffiths was further ordered to pay costs of £735 plus a further £78 for damaging a teacher's chair during an unrelated incident.

He is banned from contacting the victim for 12 months under the terms of a restraining order.

Defence lawyer Claire Aldridge said her client had been going through a ''difficult time'' when he was forced to re-sit a year at high school due to him having to drop Physics and maths A Levels.

She said: “He feels lessons have been learned in fact this whole case had been a huge learning curve, he deeply regrets reaching out to touch the complainant and he apologises for any stress caused to her.

“He tells me he realises how sensitive issues are relating to physical contact and how one’s actions can be considered.”

She added: “He also received counselling from a GP referral in relation to anxiety and depression.”

“He has started at Durham University he is reading criminology.

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