A drunken sex pest exposed himself to two women and sexually assaulted one of them as they stood having a smoke outside a block of flats.

Keith Gardner made lewd, offensive comments to the pair before grabbing one of them from behind and molesting her.

A court heard he then exposed himself to the shocked pair and made a further sexual comment.

Now the 48-year-old, who was already on a suspended sentence for harassment, has been jailed at Newcastle Crown Court.

The women were standing outside some flats in Gateshead in January when they were approached by "highly intoxicated" Gardner.

He initially made a nuisance of himself, flicking a cigarette out of the hand of one of the women and then becoming abusive.

Richard Herrmann, prosecuting, said he then asked an offensive question of one of the women, which left her horrified and she told him he shouldn't say things like that.

Mr Herrmann told the court: "He said he could do what the **** he wanted to do.

"He stepped close to her, into her personal space."

Gardner made further disgusting comments and, as one of the women tried to back off, he groped her breast from behind, over her clothing.

Mr Herrmann said: "Horrified, she went on to say 'You can't go around abusing women'.

"He said he could do whatever he wanted to and told her to shut up."

There was then a "coming together" between him and the other woman and he grabbed her but prosecutors accepted that was not a sexual assault.

He then exposed himself to the women and made another sexual comment.

Mr Herrmann said: "It was a sustained incident and the comments made were clearly degrading."

The woman who was sexually assaulted said in a victim impact statement: "I was shocked, I didn't know what he was capable of.

"Since the incident I've had a number of occasions where I've had flashbacks and I'm more nervous than I was.

"I genuinely think he is a risk to women."

The other woman added: "I'm shocked to know the man was capable of this.

"I've thought about it all the time since it happened."

Gardner, of Oak Square, Gateshead, who has 22 previous convictions but none for sexual offences, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and exposure and was also in breach of a suspended sentence for offences of harassment and breaching a restraining order in relation to his mother and aunt.

Judge Sarah Mallett jailed him for a total of 82 weeks.

Lee Fish, defending, said Gardner is an alcoholic, adding: "It doesn't excuse the disgraceful behaviour by this defendant but he would not have behaved in that way if he had not been drunk.

"He was so intoxicated he was completely incoherent and he injured himself with a bottle during the incident. He smashed the top of the bottle and inflicted a fairly unpleasant wound to his own face with that."

Mr Fish added: "He is not a sexual predator, he is a man who has a serious chronic alcohol problem that caused him to behave in the way he did.

"He can't really remember what happened in relation to these women."

Mr Fish said Gardner does not accepting he was carrying out a sex act on himself while exposing himself.

Mr Fish said in June this year, someone put burning paper through his letterbox, causing significant damage and forcing him to move.