A CONVICTED paedophile with a history of assaulting children offered a 14-year-old schoolgirl sweets and told her he would like to marry her, a court heard.

John Drury, 94, allegedly approached the youngster aboard the Number 8 Arriva bus in High Street, Colchester.

A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court heard the pensioner chose to sit next to the girl, despite the availability of numerous empty seats.

Samantha Lowther, prosecuting, outlined how Drury went on to strike up a conversation with the teenager.

“He began by asking her her name, then asking her what school she went to,” she said.

“He offered her a sweet and she declined.

“He then proceeded to ask her if she had a boyfriend. He said if he was in her school and in her year he would like to be her boyfriend.

In an interview with police, the girl said at first she had thought Drury was a lonely old man.

But she began to feel uncomfortable as the conversation progressed.

“He told me ‘If I was in your school I would like to be your boyfriend and I would like to marry you’,” she said.

“At this point I thought it was getting a bit creepy.”

The alleged encounter on the bus took place in February last year.

Drury was charged with breaching a sexual offences prevention order and first appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court in October.

But he was allowed to walk free after the Crown Prosecution Service made no representations for him to be remanded in custody.

The jury heard how in December, Drury entered the Co-op, in Mersea Road, Colchester, where a group of seven schoolchildren between the ages of ten and 11 were singing Christmas carols.

Mrs Lowther said: “Within five minutes of the children singing, the defendant approached them and began talking to them.

“He asked what school they went to. He also said he had been involved in the D-Day landings.”

Drury, of Mersea Road, Colchester, denies two counts of breaching the order, which was issued in 2011 and bans him from talking to children.

The court was told in 2005, he was convicted of 11 counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 16 and two counts of gross indecency with a child.

  • The trial is expected to last several days.