A MAN who groomed and sexually assaulted three young girls has been jailed for five years and must never be left alone with children.

Iain Wolstenholme used the pretence of tickling the girls and talking about underwear to molest them and get them to strip.

Judge Peter de Mille said the 37-year-old “used that as an excuse to groom these children” and described some of his abuse as “particularly grave”.

Wolstenholme committed the sexual assaults on three girls aged between 11 and 15 at a rural Oxfordshire house between 2000 and 2004, while he lived in the village of Farnborough, near Banbury.

He was last month convicted by a jury of eight counts of indecent assault and one charge of indecency with a child, and was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

Wolstenholme bought his victims underwear and told them he had done a bra-fitting course while working for the fashion chain Next.

But jurors in his trial heard his colleagues said he worked in menswear and that their branch did not offer a bra-fitting service.

Pamela Brain, defending, yesterday said Wolstenholme continued to deny his offending.

She said: “Mr Wolstenholme maintains his innocence to these matters so there’s really very little I can say about the actual offences so far as mitigation is concerned.

"These have obviously had a considerable impact on his life, in the sense that before these matters came to light Mr Wolstenholme was living with his wife and three children and had a successful business.

“The effect has been that his wife has divorced him and he has not seen his three children since June.”

Miss Brain said her client’s house had been repossessed in June and he was “in significant debt”.

Referring to the abuse of one girl, Judge de Mille said: “In her case the grooming of her was by way of shared interested and your supposed special knowledge or women’s underwear and underclothes.”

He added: “I’ve read the victim impact statements from which it’s apparent that (one girl) is suffering as a consequence of the offences you have committed and that remains even now ongoing.”

Judge de Mille declined his right to assess Wolstenholme as “dangerous” and order an indeterminate sentence, but said: “There remains risk to the public particularly because you continue to deny these offences and also because of your clear proclivity towards young children.”

Wolstenholme, who had moved to Grindleford, Derbyshire, was jailed for five years, banned from working with children and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

He was also given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order banning him from being alone with children.