A 'predatory' sex offender, who targeted girls as young as twelve as he travelled around on buses in Waltham Forest, has been jailed. 

Dean Forte, 33, of no fixed address, was sentenced to two years in prison following his conviction of eight sexual assaults at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday. 

He is also barred from having contact with anyone under 16, and has also been placed on the sex offenders register for ten years after sexually assaulting the girls on buses over three days in December. 

Within the space of an hour, he managed to sexually assault five victims in Wandsworth on December 11 and then on December 14, he committed a further three assaults on buses operating in the borough. 

He sat down next to the girls, with his youngest victim being just 12 years old, so that he could touch their legs and buttocks. 

Two separate police stations launched investigations to track him down before he was eventually caught in Chingford on December 14 following a report of a sexual assault on a bus. 

He was charged and remanded the same day to appear two days later at Thames Magistrates Court. 

Graham Daly, head of community safety and policing partnerships at TfL said: "Unwanted sexual behaviour of this kind will not be tolerated on our transport network and so I'm pleased this repeated sex offender has been jailed and put on the Sex Offenders Register for his predatory and disgusting crimes."

"It is never ok to be threatened or distressed by another person’s behaviour. If someone has made you feel uncomfortable, for example touched you in an inappropriate manner, we strongly encourage you to tell the police. 

"They can then not only target the perpetrator but also help to prevent it happening to someone else."