A PRIVATE maths tutor who groped a 13-year-old pupil in his home at Blakedown, near Kidderminster, has been jailed for four months at Worcester Crown Court.

Thomas Tate was described by Judge Andrew Geddes as a man who had been blessed with many privileges, including winning an open scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford, at the age of 17.

There was a flaw in his character, however, which had led to him behaving inappropriately with the young pupil and on another occasion when he had molested a young girl on a train.

Tate, 67, of Leadmill Street, Sheffield and formerly of Mill Lane, Blakedown, pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child.

He also admitted breaching a two-year conditional discharge imposed at Birmingham in 2003 for indecent assault on a train.

Judge Geddes ordered him to register as a sex offender for seven years. He also made a sexual offences prevention order banning Tate from advertising tuition for anyone under 18 or inviting anyone under that age from entering his home unsupervised.

Tate had been advertising lessons in GCSE maths on the internet in February, 2004 and was contacted by a family living near Kidderminster. Their daughter had lessons once a week at his home, said Mr Pardeep Tiwana, prosecuting.

They built up a good relationship but Tate was drunk when she arrived one day for a lesson. He touched her knees and then felt her stomach and breasts over her clothing.

When she objected, he said: "I am being a naughty boy" and started smacking himself when he fell on the floor. He later told police that he had drunk two pints of beer and several glasses of vodka.

Miss Laura Marshall, defending, said Tate, who had a young son, recognised that his behaviour was inappropriate and that he needed help to cure his addiction to alcohol.

The judge said it was a "deeply shameful" episode, which could affect the girl for the rest of her life.