A Walton man has been jailed for 18 months for secretly filming a girl in a McDonald’s toilet as well as an "extremely disturbing" sexual assault on another girl.

John Bate, 28, went into the girls’ toilets at the McDonalds at Apex Corner, in Hanworth, before his distressed victim spotted him and chased him away to get his phone on July 25, 2015.

He was also convicted of sexually assaulting another girl in front of her friend, and outraging public decency by touching himself in public after they got off a broken down bus in Walton in a separate incident on June 18, 2015.

Bate, of The Hart, was found guilty of voyeurism and sexual assault after a trial at Kingston Crown Court on Thursday, February 16.

He was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, April 7.

He had previously appeared in court accused of a string of sex attacks on young women, including a 14-year-old girl, in Teddington Lock in 2012.

The trial collapsed after what one juror described as an “extraordinarily inept case” from prosecutors and poor police evidence.

CPS London reviewing lawyer Catherine Wear said: "Bate's sexual offences were extremely disturbing and distressing for his victims.

"Less than a week before filming the girl in the toilet, he had been questioned by police about the offence involving two schoolgirls, suggesting a flagrant disregard of the law, and a belief that he could not be caught.

"I am most grateful to the victims and the independent witnesses who helped convict Bate by coming forward and giving evidence against him."

Bate was arrested when passerby grabbed him outside the toilet and a search found his phone a metre away.

The victim’s boyfriend looked through the phone and saw the video from the toilet cubicle. He deleted it and any photographs before giving Bate his phone back.

Bate begged for the police not to be called as well as offering money.

When officers arrived the phone could not be found as Bate's girlfriend had taken it home and hidden it, but it was later recovered.