A pervert who sexually assaulted seven girls in six days, preying on them as they travelled to school, has been jailed for a year.

Daren Carl, 50, of Goodhew Road, Woodside, groped the teenagers - most aged 13 - as they travelled on crowded buses and trams in Wimbledon.

The 50-year-old kept a notebook containing details of which bus routes "nice-looking" girls commuted on and was also found with a video camera that had recorded footage of a teenage girl's cleavage.

Carl carried out eight sexual assaults between January 22 and January 28 this year, touching each of his victims on the bottom or breasts, Kingston Crown Court heard yesterday.

Seven of the girls he assaulted were aged 13 and one was 16. All were dressed in school uniform and "obviously going to school," prosecutor Liz Lockwood told the court.

Carl assaulted two of the victims, both 13, on the same 57 bus just minutes apart from each other on January 22.

Five days later, he targeted the first victim again on the same bus. Miss Lockwood said: "He kept looking back at her to see where she was. She moved as far away from him as she could but kept moving towards her so she had nowhere to go.

"She tried to move away but she describes the defendant blocking her way. He moved his elbow up to her breast area and the point of his elbow stroked her breast. She tried to stop him but could not move him."

Miss Lockwood read statements from two of Carl's victims, one of whom was two frightened to use public transport for a week following the attack. Another, the 16-year-old, described herself as "very upset, tears in her eyes and feeling physically sick."

Carl was arrested after plain-clothed police officers boarded a bus with one victim to identify him. The officers witnessed Carl assaulting another girl before the arrest.

Clea Topolski, defending Carl, said his "remorse was palpable and comes in many forms". She asked judge Nicholas Carphely to consider imposing a suspsended jail term because Carl, who sobbed in the dock, feared losing his house of 19 years and pet dog, his only companion.

But Mr Carphely said the volume of Carl's offences demanded an immediate custodial sentence. He also banned Carl was sitting near young girls on public transport or photographing and filming them in public for ten years.