A pervert has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after a jury convicted him of molesting a young girl.

Brian Wood, of Nevill Place, Snodland, had denied two offences of sexual assault of a child under 13, committed last year.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 52-year-old, who has learning difficulties, had been convicted as a juvenile of separate assaults on a girl and a boy and was given probation orders.

He had also groped an 11-year-old girl in 2006 but was not charged.

Judge Jeremy Carey described one of the offences in the latest case as “a gross act on an innocent child”. His previous offending was an aggravating factor.

The judge said Wood needed sex offender treatment.

He will be on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and barred from working with children and vulnerable adults. A sexual harm prevention order was made.