A SERIAL offender pinned a woman in her 70s into the corner of a bus stop before sexually assaulting her, a court has heard.

Darren Watkins, of Westbourne Road, Sandhurst, was locked up after committing the ‘deeply unpleasant crime’ earlier this year.

The 48-year-old, who has 91 previous convictions including one for masturbating in public, has now been banned from catching buses between Bracknell and Sandhurst.

This comes following an incident at a bus stop on Yorktown Road on March 14, 2022.

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Members of the public saw Watkins sit next to a woman at the bus stop despite there being a number of free seats to the side of her.

The woman got up and moved away before catching her bus.

Not long afterwards, the victim, a woman said to be in her early seventies, stood in the corner of the shelter waiting for a bus.

Watkins approached the lady after speaking to her briefly, before pinning her into the corner of the shelter.

She called for help and tried to wriggle free but could not escape.

Watkins groped the woman, touching her jeans between her legs.

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A member of the public overheard the commotion and Watkins was arrested after police were called.

In a victim statement read by prosecutor Jon Sank, the woman said: “I’m a rather independent woman and before this, I would go to the shops on my own.

“The day after the incident, I got ready to go out but I physically couldn’t do it.”

Mr Sank said Watkins had 91 previous convictions for 135 offences, including armed robbery, indecent assault, and outraging public decency, when the defendant was caught masturbating by a bus stop in an undisclosed town centre.

Anisha Kiri, defending, said Watkins was drunk at the time of the “harrowing” incident.

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“He does not recall the event but he is still ashamed. He knows what he has done is wrong even if he cannot remember it.”

Her Honour Judge Campbell, sentencing said the offence was a “deeply unpleasant” and “violent” crime.

She handed Watkins a 28-month prison sentence for sexual assault at Reading Crown Court on Monday, May 9.

Watkins was also given a sexual harm prevention order, and a requirement of this is that he does not travel on buses between Bracknell and Sandhurst.