A drunk Ipswich man who sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl on a bus has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Arturs Vitols approached the teenager at about 10.30pm on March 10 last year and told her he wanted to have sex with her, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

She shouted at him and got on to a bus but he had followed her and after moving to the back of the bus where she was sitting, he had squeezed her thigh several times, the court was told.

The bus was stopped and the police were called.

Vitols, of Foxhall Road, Ipswich, admitted sexual assault and charges of assault by beating and making a threat to kill in relation to a different victim.

The 31-year-old was given a 24-month prison sentence suspended for two years, a 40-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was also made the subject of an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement for 120 days and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

The court heard that Vitols had no memory of any of the offences.