An obese man said to have intimidated three women with his size as he molested them has been spared a jail sentence.

A judge told Philip Cook, who struggled to walk into the dock at Maidstone Crown Court, that it was "a very close run thing" between sending him immediately into custody or imposing a community order.

Cook, of Maidstone Road, Rochester, was said to suffer from Prader-willi syndrome. Symptoms include over-eating, poor sexual development and learning difficulties.

During one week he molested a teenager on a bus, a patient at Medway Hospital and a cleaner at Maidstone Hospital.

Cook, 34, admitted three offences of sexual assault and was given a community order with 36 months’ supervision.

He was also ordered to attend a minimum of 104 sessions of a sex offender treatment programme and sign on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

"What you must remember also is that your size, when it comes to your victims, has an intimidatory impression upon them, as well as what you are actually doing to them," said Judge Michael Carroll.

He added that, despite Cook "down-playing" the offences, he was "just persuaded" that it was not in the public interest to send him straight to prison. The judge said that by imposing a community order instead of a suspended sentence his powers would not be limited if Cook returned to court for any possible breach.

Prosecutor Anne Phillips said Cook first approached the teenager on a bus from The Pentagon. He sat opposite her and rubbed her thighs.

The next day Cook assaulted an in-patient at Medway Hospital. She had gone outside for a cigarette when Cook approached her and started telling her he loved her. He forced her against a wall and kissed her.

Cook, who has previous convictions for battery, molested his third victim when she refused to kiss him. He rubbed his hand over her body and squeezed her bottom.