A man branded by a judge as a drunken pest has been jailed after he kissed and groped a woman in the street.

Christopher Mark Jones, 48, had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault following the incident in Wrexham town centre on September 9 last year.

A jury had been sworn in to hear the trial at Mold Crown Court but he changed his plea to guilty on a basis which was acceptable to the prosecution.

Jones, of Y Wern, Caia Park, was jailed for nine weeks to be served concurrently to a prison sentence he is already serving.

Judge Rhys Rowlands placed him on the sex offender register for seven years and he made a two-year restraining order for Jones not to approach the victim in any way.

The judge described it as unsavoury, drunken groping in the street.

Jones had pleaded guilty, late in the day.

In terms of the sort of offences that came before the crown court it was very far from being the most serious.

He had been drinking and that afternoon was “a drunken pest” with her and ended up touching her in a sexual way over her clothing.

If it had been under the clothing then it would have been much more serious and the sentence would be much longer, he warned.

It happened in the street with other people about, and the complainant found it upsetting and troubling.

Jones had a bad record over the years but there was nothing of a sexual nature.

Barrister Paulinus Barnes, prosecuting, said the complainant was speaking to another man when they were approached by Jones.

She did know him and did not object when he initially hugged her and gave her a kiss.

But CCTV then showed her body language change and that she did not want to be kissed by Jones.

However he continued to hug and kiss her on the cheek and neck and on two occasions he touched her on the bottom.

She tried to push him away and told him to get off but “he would not stop”.

A man she had been talking to was concerned about the defendant’s behaviour and could see that she was scared.

He asked Jones to leave her alone but the defendant swore at him and called the woman a slag.

The woman later said she felt him putting his hand inside her jeans but that was not accepted by Jones.

His basis of plea which had been accepted was based on what could be seen in CCTV footage of the incident, which was played to the court.

Arrested, he said he had been drinking with friends, saw the woman in the street, but initially denied that anything had happened.

Simon Killeen, defending, did not mitigate when the judge indicated he was considering a concurrent sentence to his existing sentence.