Man who groped women on bottom-pinching spree thought it was the normal way to approach them

A judge has praised the people of a seaside resort for the good judgment they have shown over a sex offender after he was released back into their community. Despite feelings running high over a series of offences in the small town of Seaton in Devon, reaction to the case has been level-headed. Judge Mr Justice Evans praised the tolerance of the community for not taking any action against sex pest Matthew Hampton, despite the apparent anger the case has generated.

He spoke as he jailed Hampton, aged 30, for groping women, including a girl as young as 14, in a two-week bottom-pinching spree in the seaside resort. University student Hampton fondled complete strangers in shops in Seaton, then told police he thought it was a normal way of making a sexual approach. The student, who is due to start a Master's degree in history at Cambridge next year, left many of his victims disgusted and distressed after following them around and touching them repeatedly.



Hampton, who was released into the community in Seaton prior to his sentence, was jailed for 36 weeks, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to receive 18 months' supervision at Exeter Crown Court. Mr Justice Evans also put him on the sex offenders register for ten years. He said the public would be better protected by Hampton working with probation to address his problems than by a short jail sentence. Hampton's victims were aged between 14 and 51 and included a hairdresser who he groped while she was cutting his hair, Exeter Crown Court was told.

He was caught because he paid for the haircut by credit card and revealed where he worked as he chatted to the stylist. Hampton, of The Avenue, Seaton, who had a holiday job working at a hotel in the resort, admitted six sexual assaults and asked for two more to be considered. Mr Warren Robinson, defending, said Hampton now accepted what he did was wrong and that he needs help. He said he had already spent eight days in custody and it had a shocking effect on him.