A MENTALLY ill man who indecently assaulted three women in York city centre has been jailed after a judge said he was powerless to send him to a secure hospital.

A shop assistant who was punched as she attempted to stop Philip Cammidge has been given a £200 reward for her courage by Judge Jonathan Crabtree.

Cammidge, 30, from Long Close Lane, Walmgate, York, pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman as she walked at the junction of High Petergate and Duncombe Place at lunchtime in October last year.

Prosecutor Alan Micheson said: "She saw a male walking towards her and moved to one side to let him pass, but he grabbed her right breast before continuing to walk on."

The next month Cammidge was seen in a clothes shop in Walmgate, apparently examining his mouth in a mirror.

Mr Micheson said: "He was approached by a part-time assistant who tried to talk to him and when he moved past he placed his hand under her jacket from behind and placed it on her bottom.

"He then approached a customer and attempted to push his hand under her skirt."

He was chased into the street by another sales assistant, who grabbed him but was punched on the arm and suffered bruising.

The court also heard that Cammidge had been arrested by police after being seen attacking a parked car in Blake Street in October. He said he had lost his temper with himself because he had not taken medication.

Cammidge was said to suffer from mental illness, which had lead to him being sent to a secure hospital.

Sentencing him to a total of three years imprisonment, Judge Crabtree said: "You do have many convictions, but most are for minor offences and, until now, none are for indecent or sexual behaviour.

"It can't possibly be said from your record that you are a serious danger to women or anybody else, from your record you seem nothing more than a nuisance, and I must treat you as a sane and normal person." A medical report from a psychiatrist claimed that Cammidge was a risk and should be kept in secure conditions, but other reports and his criminal record did not back up the opinion.

Judge Crabtree said: "If you are a medical problem that is now something for the Home Office and the prison medical service to address. Our hands are tied."All we can do is impose a prison sentence which we think appropriate to what you have actually done."

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