A TEENAGER who admitted indecent assault on a three-year-old girl has been sentenced to two years' youth custody.

Christopher Hillary, 19, was also banned from having unsupervised contact with any child under 16 for five years.

The judge at Preston Crown Court also directed that no child should live at the same address as him, and he is banned from any activity that puts him in contact with children.

The court heard how Hillary was dragged from the young child by an off-duty police officer and a passer-by who had initially raised the alarm.

Hillary of Charles Crescent, Hoghton, pleaded guilty to committing an act of gross indecency with a child and indecent assault.

Mr Duncan Birrell, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, told how a member of the public was walking in a ginnel close to Blackburn road, Higher Walton, last October. The defendant was lying on the ground and the girl on top of him. The man went to get help at the nearby home of an off-duty police officer.

They went to the scene, but Hillary had then taken the girl to another area where there was grass and bushes.

The teenager was kissing the girl and the officer seized him. Hillary went on to tell police the girl had reminded him of his ex-girlfriend. He said he thought she had been about 10 years old.

Mr Michael Craine, defending, said Hillary was a teenager of low intelligence and had been drinking that day. "In drink he committed these serious and bizarre offences. He needs help."