An 'awkward' university undergraduate facing jail as a convicted sex offender after he touched a would-be Oxbridge student on the arm and waist in the street.

Jamie Griffiths, 19, searched for ''how to make a friend'' on the internet then came into contact with the girl, then 17, in two encounters as she walked to and from school.

The victim, who was due to sit her mock exams, burst into tears during the second encounter and went to police - with her mother saying Griffiths would have touched her breast had she not moved away from him.

She later described how her school work had suffered, she was unable to sit her mock exams and said the unwanted touching had hindered her application process to Oxford University.

At Manchester magistrates court, Durham University student Griffiths - who lives with his parents in Knutsford - was convicted of two charges of sexual assault.

He denied the charges claiming he was a ‘shy, anxious and awkward’ teenager who had clumsily approached the girl in an attempt 'to make a friend but the words didn't come out'.

He will be sentenced later this month and also faced being ordered to sign the Sex offender Register.

The offence carries a maximum sentence of ten years jail if dealt with at a crown court.

The incidents occurred between October and November last year whilst the pair were studying for A levels at secondary school.

The girl, now 18, said she had been walking home from an English lesson when she encountered Griffiths on a railway bridge.

This is what the girl told the court

(Image: Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)

She told the hearing: ''I was just set on getting home and revising for my mock exams but as I was coming over the bridge I saw him facing a hedge and I thought it was really weird. He wasn’t doing anything he was just facing the hedge, staring at it.

"As I walked towards him, I was watching him and he suddenly swung round so he was facing me.

''I remember it happening fast. As soon as he moved I moved and I said: 'stop' and he touched me on my arm. I sort of jolted out of the way and I went into the road to avoid him and he very quickly walked away.

"I think it would have been on my breast had I not moved. When it first happened I didn’t think much of it, didn’t click in my head, I just thought that was really weird. Why did he touch me?

“I forgot about it for a while because I had my exams. I just thought it was weird behaviour.”

She said she encountered Griffiths again on November 7 at lunchtime as she was on her way to school to sit a timed English essay having been revising at home.

She added: ''I was quite far up the road when I noticed him. He is someone who lives in my area, someone I have seen before. I thought I recognised him but I didn’t think it was the person from the first incident at the time.

''It was only when he moved to touch me and looked me in the eyes that I realised it was the same person. The pavement was quite wide but he suddenly moved to walk in front of me, looked me straight in the eye and touches me on my side and walked off.

''It was quite a while - three to five seconds. He smirked at me, he didn’t stop he just touched me and walked off and I broke down crying in the street - it was quite traumatic.

“I had reported the previous incident to the police to days before hand as it had been going around that other incidents had occurred and I thought I could give more evidence, and then it happened again. It came up on a local Facebook group chat.

“I broke down in tears straight away and rang my mum. I attempted to follow him initially and get a picture, but I wasn’t quick enough.

“I rang my mum she came and picked me up. We went straight to the house and then went straight to the police station and reported the incident.

''I was trying to revise for these exams and I couldn’t focus at all. Every time I started working I would cry because I would think about it. I felt very unsafe even in my own home I couldn’t walk to school for a couple of weeks, I wouldn’t leave the house myself even to go into town in Knutsford.

“I didn’t sit my mock exams so I didn’t get that practice, I struggled for a couple of months afterwards, I was applying for Oxford at the time and I found going to Oxford a stressful thing.

"Even today walking down the street it just makes everything a little bit scarier. If there is a guy walking towards me by himself I start to panic. It is just part of everyday life.

“It was more shocking that someone thought they had the right to touch me as I walked down the street.''

This is his version of events

Griffiths, who had been volunteering at a Barnado's charity shop in between lessons, told the hearing: “I had seen her in the school and I turned around and I went to touch her arm to start a conversation and she just walked off. My intention was to make a friend. All my friends had left. I was lonely I just wanted to speak to someone.

“She was walking towards me and I recognised her. I didn’t say anything but I really wanted to say something - the words just didn’t come out. I touched her but I believed that it was the arm I was touching.

''I smiled at her I was just trying to be friendly. I tried to get her attention and she ignored me. Touching someone’s arm to get their attention I would have thought was normal. I was looking for a friend.''

Griffiths, who has since signed up to Facebook and Instagram in the hope of making new friends, added: ''I would say I’m very anxious and I don't naturally make friends although really I try to. When I looked up: 'trying to meet new people' and 'make new friends' one of the things I read was to start off with a joke.

“I have always been a very anxious person, my friends all seem to really know what to do and I never really asked of them how they did it.

"I have always been more stay at home with my parents and loneliness is all consuming. I really needed someone to talk to at the time and my intention was to make a friend - but I clearly didn’t go about it the right way and I am sorry for the misunderstanding.

''I tried to speak to her but I just couldn’t. My anxiety kicks in and it makes it impossible to say anything. She just so happened to be walking home from school those times and I have not targeted her. I would hate to make someone feel uncomfortable of scared I would absolutely hate that. Maybe it is time to try to make friends another way.''

What his defence said

His lawyer Claire Aldridge told JPs: ''She did say: 'I think it would have been on my breast had I not moved' but what she thinks might have happened isn’t the issue.

''Are you dealing with somebody lying in wait in broad day light or are you dealing with an anxious and awkward young man, someone who struggles to make friends by his own admission? He is a particularly shy, anxious young man who spends most of his time studying with his parents.”

What the prosecution said

But prosecutor Victoria Norman said: “The complainant was adamant about what she had suffered and was very frank and honest with this court. He intended to touch her breast area and was waiting for her.

"What rational person looks up: 'how to make a friend'? Even if the defendant is advancing he was just seeking to make a friend he waits in two areas that are isolated on her route home, he touches her.

“An attempt to make a friendship with anyone surely starts with a hello or a wave.”

What the magistrates told him

Convicting Griffiths, magistrates told him: "The complainant's evidence was very clear, logical and without embellishment. We can think of no motivation for you to touch the victim other than sexual.

"Had she not taken evasive action the assault was likely to have been even more serious. The first assault can be recognised as opportunistic however there is more evidence of premeditation in the second.”

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