A paedophile sexually assaulted a schoolgirl in a Black Country graveyard after luring her away from her friends. Registered sex offender Robert Osbourne, approached a group of children at a graveyard in Stourbridge on Friday, October 22, 2021.

He sat on a bench with them and made conversation. He then persuaded a 14-year-old to move away from her friends by asking if she would show him where the water tap was in the graveyard at St Mary’s Church in Old Swinford.

He then touched her sexually. The girl reported the incident a dew days later and the 48-year-old, of Green Street, Stourbridge, was spotted in his home area and arrested.

READ MORE: Dudley sex pest who took pictures up women's skirts jailed

West Midlands Police said it secured CCTV and Osbourne was identified by his sex offender manager. He pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a female over 13 and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Osbourne was jailed for 35 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday, November 10. He was also given a new SHPO with ‘strict conditions’.

West Midlands Police custody image of Robert Osbourne of Green Street, Stourbridge
Robert Osbourne of Green Street, Stourbridge, admitted sexually assaulting a 14-year-old schoolgirl in a Stourbridge graveyard and breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order handed out after previous offending

Det Con Adrian Jackson, from the Sandwell and Dudley Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “We would like to praise the bravery of the girl in reporting Osbourne’s assault. Her courage gives confidence to others to come forward and report sexual abuse.

“You will be listened to, you will be believed, and you will be supported - from your initial contact all the way to court. I would also like to thank her family for their support throughout the case.”

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Osbourne was previously convicted of taking pictures up women’s skirts on trains and buses across the West Midlands and jailed for four years in September 2016, with four years on licence. He also had to register on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

But the former tree surgeon’s sentence was reduced to three years and two months, with the extended licence period quashed at an appeal to the Court of Appeal in London in 2017. At the time Judge John Wait said: “The offences, while very disturbing and distressing for the victims, were not of themselves the most serious.”

West Midlands Police urged victims of sex attacks to come forward and said: “If you have been a victim of sexual assault, or think you know someone who has, there are a range of options available to you. Visit our website for more information about your options."