A 34-year-old man has been jailed for eight months for indecently assaulting a child.

James (also known as Jamie) Mark Smith denied two counts of the offence but was found guilty of both after a summary court trial.

The court heard that Smith put his fingers down the victim’s cleavage and his hand inside her waistband, moving it from side to side.

Deputy High Bailiff Rachael Braidwood sentenced him to six months’ custody for one count and two months for the second, to run consecutively.

He was also put on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

Smith’s address was given as the Isle of Man Prison as he is already in custody, on remand for drug offences which he is due to be sentenced for at the Court of General Gaol Delivery in November.

His defence advocate said that his lifestyle at the time of the sexual offences, in particular his drug use, had led him to be in court, and that he had no sexual intention towards the victim and still denied the offences.

Smith was said to have been under the influence of cocaine at the time.

A probation report assessed Smith as a low risk of reoffending for sexual offences, but a higher risk when it came to drug-related reoffending.

Smith’s advocate said that the probation report said that a non-custodial sentence may have been suitable if the defendant had not already been in prison, but as he was, sentencing options were limited to custody.

No order for costs was made in light of the defendant being in prison.