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Police have welcomed the conviction of a sex offender who stripped naked and then touched a 'screaming' little girl in a Stoke-on-Trent street.
Daniel Clift was completely nude when he spotted the six-year-old child getting out of a car in Fenton on New Year's Eve.
As the youngster tried to get back in the vehicle, 36-year-old Clift touched her on her head and shoulder and grinned and laughed as he did it. Police arrived and found him still naked talking to people outside a pub.
He was arrested and later told probation he was under the influence of monkey dust at the time. Clift was jailed for three years at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.
Speaking after the case, PC Daniel Crank, from Stoke-on-Trent South local policing team, said: “We do not underestimate the affect that Clift’s offending had on the victim and I am pleased he has been convicted of his crimes. We are committed to keeping communities safe in Stoke-on-Trent and wider Staffordshire.”
Prosecutor Antony Longworth said the incident happened at 9.40pm on December 31 as a mum was taking her child to a shop. The girl got out of the car as the mum was getting her purse from the passenger seat footwell.
Mr Longworth said: "She saw the defendant naked walking on the street. She shouted to her daughter to get back in the car. The child was standing by the front window of the car.
"She was making her way into the car and had one hand on the door handle when the defendant placed his right hand on the child's head and moved his hand down the side of her shoulder. He was seen to be grinning, smiling and laughing as he did it.
"It was a deliberate act. The mum called 999. The child was upset and screaming, 'When can we go home? Why did he touch me? Is it safe for me to get out of the car?'.
"Police went to the scene. They found the defendant naked. He was arrested. He was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. His eyes were very wide and his pupils dilated."
Clift,who has 69 previous convictions for 135 offences - pleaded guilty to exposure, breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and common assault. The court heard the defendant, of no fixed address, has numerous previous convictions for exposure.
Adam Watkins, mitigating, said Clift lost his parents when he was aged five and six and he grew up in the care system. He has significant mental health issues and has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.
Judge Richard McConaghy said: "This is the 70th time you have found yourself in front of a criminal court. This is the fourth time that you have been convicted of an offence of exposure.
"I take the view that this is a very serious breach of the SHPO. Not only did you have contact with a child. You did so by approaching the child while you were naked and you committed a criminal offence of assaulting her."
The judge placed Clift on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and made him the subject of a new SHPO for the same period.