AN 84-year-old man put his hand down the top of a supermarket worker because he said he had heard she had the biggest breasts in town, Welshpool Magistrates’ Court heard.

Walter Leanord Griffiths, of Oldford, Welshpool, admitted sexually assaulting the woman on November 1, 2018.

Helen Tench, prosecuting, told the court that the victim, an employee at a supermarket in Welshpool, was sorting reduced items on a cooling table when the defendant approached her.

He did not say anything to the worker and then put his hand “down the front of her top”, magistrates heard.

Griffiths reached far enough down her top to touch the “top of her breasts”, Ms Tench told the court.

The employee was in shock and said to Griffiths: “What do you think you are doing?”

In response, Griffiths said: “I’ve heard you’ve got the biggest **** (breasts) in town,” Ms Tench told magistrates.

The defendant then tried to touch her breasts again and she swore at him, telling him to go away, the prosecution told the court.

Ms Tench read out a statement from the victim, in which she said: “I feel distressed. I can’t believe someone would touch me in this way.”

She also said that she was now “nervous in work” and kept her distance when men were standing near her.

She had also started to do up all of the buttons on her work uniform and wear a jacket to make herself feel safer, the court heard.

Ms Tench told magistrates that CCTV identified Griffiths and that he was found by security outside the store.

The prosecution also told the court that Griffiths had said to the victim: “Could I warm my hands because it’s cold?”

Paul Inns, defending, said that Griffiths was a “man of good character” and that his “greatest pain was his fall from grace”.

He said that he was a hard-working man and had a wife.

Mr Inns said that the assault was an “ill-judged joke”.

“Anybody would have thought so in the circumstances,” he said to magistrates.

The defence solicitor also said the offence was “unpleasant” and that he knew the defendant appreciated that.

Les Curley, chair of the bench, said: “A man of your age should know better. You have caused a lot of distress to the young lady at the supermarket. It wasn’t funny and it wasn’t a joke.”

Magistrates gave Griffiths a 12-month community order with 20 rehabilitation activity days. He was also ordered to pay £270, including £100 compensation to the victim, and to register as a sexual offender.