A DAD-OF-ONE sexually assaulted a young man after offering him a lift home, a court heard.

As George Mathew, 39, of Capelstone, Basildon, was driving along Whitmore Way, Basildon, he leant over and touched the 18-year-old's private parts.

The teenager was so shocked by Mathew's behaviour, on June 2 last year, he contacted police and told them what happened.

Yesterday at Basildon Crown Court, Judge Rupert Overbury ordered Mathew to pay the victim £500 compensation and carry out 100 hours unpaid work in the community.

He was also sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and given a 12-month supervision order and told to pay £400 court costs.

Judge Overbury told him: "Plainly what you did in your car, in my judgment, was premeditated and quite deliberate.

"There was no other reason to invite an 18-year-old into your car. You had never done it before and you have never done it since.

"What happened in your car, is you hoped to carry out some kind of sex act on him.

"It turned into a sexual assault by grabbing his genitals over his coat."

Judge Overbury also described the attack as selfish and nasty and said it had left the victim very distressed.

Mathew pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the teenager at an earlier hearing.