A man who admitted the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl has been handed a suspended sentence.

Martyn Pressley, 37, squeezed the bottom of his young victim 10 times through her clothes.

He initially denied the offence but indicated he would change his plea to guilty four days before he was due to stand trial.

It meant his young victim did not have to give evidence in court and relive the trauma of her ordeal.

In a victim impact statement, the complainant said she found it really hard to put into words the impact of what Pressley had done to her.

She said: ‘You took away my innocence. You knew how old I was. I hope you realise that what you did to me is wrong.

‘I feel I just can’t trust any male - they would take advantage of me like you did. I just want to move on but cannot.’

Prosecutor Hazel Carroon said the incident, which took place on April 18 last year, had lasted about 15 seconds and made the victim feel scared and shocked.

Following his arrest, the defendant, of Glen Mooar, Laxey, told police he had been ‘six out of 10’ on the intoxication scale.

Defence advocate Stephen Wood described the incident as ‘relatively brief’ and an ‘aberration’.

He said his client, who had no relevant previous convictions, was ‘battling’ with what he had done, and was ‘deeply sorry, ashamed and disgusted with himself’.

Sentencing Pressley to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, with two years’ supervision, Deemster Graham Cook told him: ‘You only have yourself to blame. Children are entitled to feel safe and feel protected.’

He placed him on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and made him subject to a restraining order.

Pressley, who is self-employed, must also pay his victim £1,000 in compensation plus £800 prosecution costs.