A journalist and hospital visitor who took sexual advantage of a 29-year-old woman with Down's syndrome has been jailed for 21 months.

Investigative journalist Anthony Moncrieffe repeatedly kissed her and put his hand between her legs.

The 68-year-old, of Buckland Hill, Maidstone, visited the Dover woman at the Royal Brompton Hospital, Chelsea and was arrested on the ward when suspicious staff eventually called the police.

"Her mental disorder means she is unable to agree to sexual touching, she has Down's Syndrome and looks about 10 years old," Isleworth Crown Court Judge Nicholas Wood told the first-time offender as he jailed him.

He continued: "She has been described in this court as an 'innocent sweet-smiling child' and was described by one witness as reminding her of her five year-old.

"Kent social services knew she was a vulnerable person and she was incapable of agreeing to sexual touching because she does not understand the nature and consequences of it."

Moncrieffe was found guilty by a jury of six counts of sexual activity with a mentally disabled person, committed in 2012.

Five counts relate to kissing the woman on the lips and the sixth alleges Moncrieffe, a veteran of the Daily Mirror, Sunday People, Press Association and Reuters, put his hand beneath her underwear.

"Her mental disorder means she is unable to agree to sexual touching, she has Down's Syndrome and looks about 10 years old..." - Judge Nicholas Wood

The judge told him : "You put your hand inside her knickers. There was a significant degree of planning by you and a breach of trust."

In addition to being jailed Moncrieffe must also sign the sex offenders register for ten years and was made subject to an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order, banning him from any contact with the victim.

His lawyer Andrew Hope said: "When he saw the probation service Mr Moncrieffe was open to some sort of intervention, but his difficulty is he maintains his innocence.

"The probation service conclude by not taking responsibility he is minimising the seriousness of the offences.

"The nursing staff indicated there was a genuine degree of affection for the complainant from this defendant, who sadly now suffers from several serious health problems.

"He has sleep apnea and needs a machine to sleep, has hearing problems and chronic anxiety and depression exacerbated since the jury's verdicts were returned."

Different members of hospital staff gave evidence against the father-of-four, who regularly visited the woman, and the first said he lifted her oxygen mask and kissed her on the lips.

Moncrieffe told the court : "It was an adult-sized mask and she's got a very little face and the mask kept slipping down. I pushed it back onto the bridge of her nose and tightened it.

"She is always smiling and I said: 'Good girl,' and kissed her on the tip of her nose."

The second witness claims seeing Moncrieffe with the oxygen mask in his hand and suspecting him of kissing the woman, but admits their view was not clear.

"What would I want to kiss a little girl on the lips for?," asked the defendant. "Particularly a sick little girl."

A third witness says he was lying on the hospital bed, beside the woman, when he leaned over, lifted the oxygen mask and kissed her.

A fourth claimed they heard the sound of kisses coming from Moncrieffe and the woman and he was arrested the day another member of staff said he was touching her between the legs.

"We were holding hands and our hands were resting on her lap," he told the jury. We always held hands, a child likes security.

"The next thing I knew two uniformed security guards arrived."

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