A BLACKBURN man molested a woman on a Preston-bound train in front of her child.

A court heard that Mohammed Ishfaq was so drunk that afterwards he could not remember what happened.

Ishfaq, 37, of Winmarleigh Street, Blackburn, was placed on supervision and ordered to carry out 120 hours unpaid work.

A judge at Preston Crown Court told Ishfaq he would be on the sex offenders register for five years and would have to pay £500 prosecution costs.

The defendant had pleaded guilty to an offence of sexual assault.

The court heard that the woman victim had been travelling on a train with her son.

The crowded train had been heading to Preston.

As she moved her child aside so that she could sit down, the defendant took hold of the child's hand.

She remonstrated with him, but was then indecently touched by him.

Mr Ian Dacre, defending, said: "It was a fleeting contact. An ugly incident of groping which, according to a witness, had taken five seconds."

Judge Pamela Badley told the defendant he had humiliated a fellow passenger on public transport and come close to receiving an immediate prison sentence.