A LORRY driver has been jailed for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

Wayne Gibbons, aged 43, was convicted of touching the girl in the early hours of January 30, last year.

Michael Goldwater, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court the crime took place while the girl was sleeping.

She woke at about 1.30am to find Gibbons touching her inappropriately.

She moved away several times in an attempt to get him to stop, making it clear to Gibbons she was not asleep. He left the room.

She texted her boyfriend almost immediately after the incident and raised the alarm after getting out of bed later that morning.

Judge Elliot Knopf, reading a statement by the teenager, said: “She considered her life to be marvellous and great at the time of the event. She can’t believe what has happened to her.

“She has had counselling but she says it doesn’t change the fact somebody has sexually abused her body.

“It has caused her to struggle with relationships and she is distressed by the fact it has been said she was telling lies.”

Colin Buckle, defending, said the conviction has caused Gibbons to ”lose everything”.

Mr Buckle said: “Incarceration will be one further nail in the coffin. The conviction has had the most profound effect on him.”

He asked for Judge Knopf to consider suspending the sentence.

Gibbons, of Royston Avenue, Tonge Moor, had three previous convictions for unrelated crimes.

He was jailed for two years and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.