Paedophile jailed after pouncing on girl, 4, and kissing her on the LIPS

A warped paedophile has been jailed after he pounced on a four-year-old girl on a bus and kissed her on the lips.

Robert Colclough, 44, sat next to the youngster when she was travelling on the single-decker bus with her mother and sister.

He let the girl look at a game on his mobile phone before asking her to give him a kiss on January 18 this year.

She quickly tried to walk away but Colclough grabbed her and spun her around before kissing her on the lips.

The girl then pointed the paedophile out to her mother when she got off the bus and she called police who arrested him.

Officers also attended his home in Bentilee, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs., and discovered thousands of sick images of youngsters on three mobile phones.

Colclough pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child and nine charges of possession of indecent photographs of children.

And he was jailed for eight months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Tuesday – to run consecutively to a three-year sentence he received in April for robbery.

Colclough was also made the subject of a five year sexual offences prevention order and will be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.

Judge David Fletcher said: “The timing of the early guilty plea is relevant to the sentence as it was given at the first opportunity.

“A report from Dr Sebastian said you had no medical conditions – but it confirms to me that drinking heavily has affected your well-being.

“The vast majority of images were of a less serious categorisation but one image is particularly grotesque and you should be ashamed.”

Prosecutor Fiona Cortese told the court the victim was sitting near the back of the bus in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, with her sister while her family were towards the front.

She added: “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.”

Police arrested Colclough at Hanley bus station but also attended his home the next day after he self-harmed.

The paedophile told officers he had downloaded indecent images of children and was addicted to the images – adding that he “wasn’t right in the head”.

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.

In his police interview, Colclough said kissing the girl on the lips was “a silly thing to do” and admitted it wasn’t appropriate behaviour.

He told officers he was single, didn’t have children, and collected Thomas the Tank Engine trains.

Robin Lichfield, defending, 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 has expressed he is sorry and hopes she is not traumatised and is sorry to the family – these are his words.”