A PERVERT who sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl on a bus in Clydebank – and attempted to attack another girl who was aged just 11 – has been jailed for his crimes.

But Amarjit Singh’s eight-month prison sentence was backdated to November, when he was first remanded in custody – and because he’s already spent four months behind bars, he’s now eligible for early release from jail.

Singh admitted putting his hand up the 16-year-old girl’s skirt and handling her buttocks in the attack, which took place in the course of a bus journey along Dumbarton Road on November 20.

Singh, of Kingsway Court, Knightswood, also pleaded guilty to attempting to sexually assault another girl by trying to touch her over her clothing during the same bus journey.

Both girls were in their school uniforms at the time of the incident.

The 42-year-old appeared from custody at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Friday after sentencing was delayed due to a background report not being available.

He originally pleaded guilty on January 30 after the severity of the initial charges was reduced by the Crown.

Singh’s solicitor, Brian McGuire, told Friday’s hearing: “He was initially remanded in custody on November 22, when he appeared on this matter on petition.

“The inevitable consequence of this is that a custodial sentence will be imposed, and he accepts that position.”

Mr McGuire said his client suffered from seizures brought on by excessive drinking – but that he attempted to deal with the situation by drinking more.

Fiscal depute Sarah Healing told the court that the Crown was seeking a “sexual offences prevention order” against Singh which would bar him from contacting, or being in the company of, any child under 18, “except such contact as is inadvertent or not reasonably avoidable in the course of daily life”, unless supervised by an adult aged 21 or older.

Sheriff John Hamilton granted the order, which will be in place for 10 years – the same length of time for which Singh is already subject to reporting requirements under legislation for dealing with sex offenders.

Sheriff Hamilton told Singh: “These offences were serious in nature and must have caused great distress to the young girls concerned, those they were with, and their families.

“It is significant that this incident happened on public transport. These were girls in uniform who were quite properly going to or from school and should not have been subjected to such behaviour.

“I’m concerned about the rather illogical position you take whereby you were having seizures brought on by alcohol and dealt with them by drinking more alcohol. That cannot have been a sensible course of action.”

Singh was jailed for eight months – reduced from 12 because of his early guilty plea – and had his sentence backdated to November 22.