A CWMBRAN pensioner who was jailed after he admitted groping a 45-year-old woman failed in a bid for release in front of the country’s top judge.

John Hood, 72, of Parkside, was jailed for eight months at Cardiff Crown Court last month after pleading guilty to sexual assault.

His lawyers asked for a reduction in the sentence to allow him to go free, but saw their case rejected by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, at the Court of Appeal, in London.

Lord Judge said the crown court judge was entitled to take the view that there was no sufficient reason to justify a suspended sentence.

The Court of Appeal heard that Hood assaulted the woman, who had been drinking, while she lay asleep, putting his hand down her trousers and touching her inappropriately.

She told police, but Hood claimed it had been his victim who initiated sexual contact, grabbing his hand and directing it below her waist.

Eventually the pensioner, who had never been in trouble before, changed his story, pleading guilty to the offence in February, before being sent to prison last month.

Lord Judge said: “In the circumstances we see no reason for coming to the conclusion that the sentence imposed by the judge was open to criticism.”