A 26-YEAR-old man who carried out a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl after dragging her into an alley has been jailed for more than four years.

Adam Baird, of North Dean Road, Braithwaite, Keighley, initially blamed the girl, saying she had tried to kiss him.

But despite admitting his guilt before the courts, he continued to blame the teenager when speaking to probation officers prior to sentencing.

Sitting at Bradford Crown Court, Judge Jonathan Rose sentenced Baird to four years and four months in prison, urging him to stop blaming his young victim.

The court heard that Baird was on Oakworth Road in Keighley near the Royal Mail delivery office at around 11pm on October 13, last year, when he spotted the girl walking home from a night out.

He grabbed her wrist and dragged her into an alleyway before sexually assaulting her, said Ian Howard, prosecuting. The attack was shortlived but ended with him pushing the teenager into a wall. She was able to make it home, where her family alerted the police. Baird was arrested after DNA evidence linked him to the attack.

Mr Howard added: “When questioned he stated he had seen the complainant and that she had been very drunk. She had fallen over onto the path and when he helped pick her up, she tried to kiss him.”

Mr Howard described how the attack had left the teenager reluctant to leave the house and walk anywhere by herself.

Rebecca Young, for Baird, said that the attack was completely out of character for the father-of-one.

“He can’t really offer any proper explanation for what went so wrong.”

She added that he was ashamed of his actions, but that he hadn’t yet taken full responsibility for them.

Judge Jonathan Rose said: “You must have known seeing her that she was vulnerable, that she was very young, that she was a complete stranger who wanted nothing to do with you.”

He added: “This young woman is going to be carrying the scars of what you did to her for quite some time in the future.”

The court heard that Baird is to remain on the sexual offences register indefinitely.

Following the attack there were calls for the alleyway, known as Postman’s Walk, to be closed off on safety grounds.