A SERIAL groper who prowled paths and shopping streets for nearly a year slapping and grabbing the buttocks of young women and schoolgirls in Alloa and Stirling is facing jail.

Jaden Milne, whose actions were described as "sinister" and "predatory", targeted four girls and young women aged from 11 to 19, leaving some of them terrified, Falkirk Sheriff Court was told yesterday (Tuesday).

Milne, 21, sexually assaulted his victims at a bus stop, on a quiet rural path, outside a bank in Stirling, and in a branch of Poundland in Alloa.

The court heard the first in the series of incidents occurred at 7.20 pm on June 21 last year when a 19-year-old woman was waiting for a bus in Alloa Road, Clackmannan.

Prosecutor James Moncrieff said she was alone and listening to music when she was "startled" by Milne who "walked past, grabbed her left buttock, and continued to walk".

Less than a week later, he attacked a 12-year-old girl who was walking on a "remote rural pathway" towards Clackmannan from Alloa.

Mr Moncrieff said the girl noticed a man, who turned out to be Milne, acting suspiciously.

Then she "became aware of a hand striking her across the buttocks".

Mr Moncrieff said: "Out of instinct she lashed out with her elbow, striking the accused, who ran off."

The girl took out her phone and recorded him running away but a few minutes later she saw him following her again.

"Extemely scared" she ran to a friend's house and contacted her mother, who uploaded the pictures she had taken to Facebook. Someone recognised her attacker as Milne, and the police were contacted.

Four months later, Milne struck again, sneaking up behind a 16-year-old girl as she was leaving the Thistles Centre, Stirling.

Mr Moncrieff said she "felt someone cup her bottom".

Realising she was outside the Royal Bank of Scotland she went in and asked the manager to check CCTV, which showed Milne sneaking up behind her. The incident happened in broad daylight at 1.36pm.

The last victim in the series of sexual assaults was a girl, aged 11, who "felt a hand grabbing the left hand side of her buttocks" as she browsed phone cases in Poundland, Alloa, about 3pm on May 7 this year.

Mr Moncrieff said: "She was extremely shaken by this unexpected and untoward action."

The incident was witnessed by shop staff, who stopped Milne from leaving, checked CCTV and obtained an image of him, and called police. He was later arrested.

Milne, of Clackmannan, pleaded guilty to four charges of sexual assault.

Solicitor Charlotte Watt, defending, said he had a porn addiction.

Sheriff Maryam Labaki deferred sentence until December 5 for reports.

She said it was "very sinister and worrying in terms of public protection" that Milne had "disengaged" from sessions with a psychiatric nurse who had been counselling him as part of supervised bail.

She continued bail, but warned: "If he cannot control his urges, it's a cause for concern."

She said Milne had displayed "predatory behaviour towards young women and girls".