Hearing: Snaresbrook Crown Court, pictured, was told that Shamsul Islam molested a string of girls on public transport in London

A sex attacker molested four teenage girls then claimed he did not know what he was doing because he was fasting for Ramadan, a court heard today.

Shamsul Islam, 33, sidled up to girls as young as 15 on empty buses and trains across east London then sexually assaulted them.

When one of his victims confronted him he said 'I'm sorry, I'm fasting, I don't know what I'm doing,' Snaresbrook Crown Court was told.

Islam, from Barking, pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault, and was sentenced to three years in prison - after which he will be deported to his home country of Pakistan.

Judge Sheelagh Canavan branded him 'a danger to society'.

Sentencing him to three years' imprisonment, Judge Canavan described him as a ‘serial, sexual pervert' and called for him to be removed from the country as soon as possible.

She said: ‘Your devotion to your religion is only convenient to you when it gives you an excuse for your sexual misconduct.

‘You are not a national of this country, and the sooner you are removed from the country the better.

The first attack took place on a C2C train going from Essex into central London, the court heard.

Prosecutor Karl Masi said: 'The defendant got onto the train and sat down beside [the first victim] - even though there were plenty of empty double seats on the carriage.

'The victim noticed Mr Islam was rubbing his elbow up against her. She tried moving away but the defendant kept moving closer to her. He would look away whenever she tried to look at him.

'At one point, after the defendant had got up and sat back down again, the victim felt him touching her stomach and looked down to find his hand under her top.

'When she challenged him the defendant got up and moved.'

The second assault, on a 15-year-old girl, happened on a bus in mid-afternoon a few days later, the court was told.

The teenager boarded the bus and immediately felt uncomfortable because Islam had been staring at her at the bus stop.

'There were other double seats available yet the defendant chose to sit next to her,' Mr Masi said. 'He was staring at her before moving his arm and touching her right leg with his hand. He then tried to get his hand under her top and on top of her leggings.'

The third attack, which happened on another bus the same day, left the 16-year-old victim 'paralysed with fear'.

Islam sat next to her, before using his fingers to caress the girl's stomach and moved his hand down to her shorts.

Attack: One of the assaults took place on a C2C train from Essex to London (file photo)

A few weeks later he boarded a different bus where he sat next to a girl and grabbed her breast.

When the girl confronted her attacker he replied: 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm fasting, I don't know what I am doing.'

Mr Masi said that all the victims were upset by the assaults and were left in floods of tears.

The first victim said she now 'questions how others look at her' in an impact statement read to the court, while another said she becomes physically sick when using public transport.

Islam was arrested on September 17 after police used his Oyster card to track him down.

Judge Canavan said: ‘I don’t underestimate the impact this has had on the psychological wellbeing of the victims.'

Speaking about the first incident, the judge said: 'I have no doubt that you knew she knew you were touching her and indeed the thrill for you in part was the fright that you were causing to that woman. I have no doubt that that fed into your sexual satisfaction.

‘When subsequently interviewed you said that you couldn’t remember the incident. You attempted to blame Ramadan as causing you to forget. As became plain during the course of the interview that was a lie - you did know what you had done.’

She said that the second victim, aged just 15, was 'very uncomfortable', adding: ‘I have no doubt you targeted her too and I have no doubt that part of the sexual thrill of your offending was the helplessness of the woman who was the subject of your sexual assault.

‘I say "woman", but she was in fact a child. She got off the bus and burst into tears and rang her mother. But that was clearly not sexually satisfying enough for you because within 90 minutes you were assaulting another woman.’

In relation to the fourth attack, Judge Canavan said: 'You said you were sorry, and that you did not know what you were doing because you were fasting.