Man, 41, sentenced for drunken sex assaults on two lone females in Hartlepool

Anthony Gill, 41, attacked a student and a woman on her way to work within 90 minutes one morning last year.

Teesside Crown Court heard how he took hold of the student as she was going to college and pulled her towards him.

She managed to wriggle free and get away, said prosecutor Annelise Haugstad.

Gill repeated the behaviour just 90 minutes later with a woman who was on her way to work.

"He suddenly grabbed hold of her,” said Ms Haugstad. “He was saying that he would kiss her.

"She tried to fight him off.”

During a struggle, Gill fell on top of the victim and kissed her on the cheek.

She said she was going to call the police and he stopped when she shouted at him.

The court heard both women were left anxious and scared to go out alone following the attacks.

Earlier that morning, Gill caused hundreds of pounds of damage by smashing two car’s windows and a business’s window on Hartlepool Marina.

He was also caught trying to steal alcohol from Asda supermarket’s warehouse.

Gill, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault, three counts of criminal damage and burglary.

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said: “In sobriety he wishes through me to express remorse for what he did to those two ladies.”

Judge Joanne Kidd said Gill’s behaviour was “disgraceful” but that the assaults were not lengthy.

He was given a two-year community order, probation and put on the sex offenders’ register for five years.