A pervert who got a sexual kick out of trying to piggy back teenage girls in the street thought his bizarre behaviour was an “ice-breaker”.

Limping father-of-one Kieron Bobbette, pounced on his victims, aged 13 to 19, and wrapped his legs around them.

The 44-year-old of Victory Mews, Brighton Marina, gave one 13-year-old schoolgirl a badly strained neck and shoulders after leaping on her.

Prosecutor Richard Cherrill told Hove Crown Court: "There is a common thread running through these offences.

"In interview, he denied any gratification of a sexual nature was involved.

"He said the genuine reason for his repeated request for piggy back rides was because he has sustained an injury to his ankle and groin.

"But by his pleas he has accepted there was a sexual element in each and every one of these five offences."

Bobbette, admitted five counts of sexual assault in the city between June 2004 and November 2008.

Before pleading guilty, he asked the judge: "Can somebody commit sexual assault without knowing they are doing this because I don't feel I have?"

He asked for a further separate offence of sexual touching to be taken into account.

He approached his victims in the street and asked for a piggy back, telling one she could make "the quickest £5 of her life" by carrying him about and convincing another to do 10 squat thrusts in a car park.

Bobbette admitted offences in Lewes Road, Brighton, Portland Road, Hove, Brighton seafront and Eastern Road, Brighton, South Coast Road, Peacehaven.

The father was eventually caught after police traced him through a fake business card he left with a 17-year-old student.

Judge Anthony Niblett told him he was sparing him jail psychiatric reports said he was not mentally ill but had an "abnormal personality".

The judge said: "What he must not do is approach any female in the street in the way he has been doing for some years. It's bizarre behaviour quite frankly, and troubling."

Defending, Stephanie Dale said Bobbette's fetish started when he injured his feet and started asking people for assistance.

He said: "He then rather continued that and considered it to be a bit of an ice breaker and a way of being able to speak with other people.

"He did indeed hope that on at least some occasions it would lead to a furtherance of a relationship with a young lady."

Bobbette was handed an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order banning him from seeking piggy backs and was put on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.

He was also given a two-year community order including 200 hours' unpaid work and supervision and ordered to pay £250 compensation to the girl he injured.