AN autistic decorator sexually harassed a barmaid, neighbour and waitress in Chester while on a “bender” after losing his job, a court heard.

Karl Nield, 48, of Shrewsbury Way, Saltney, was sacked on Friday, October 19, and went out drinking the following day.

A member of staff at a city pub spotted him slumped over and mumbling at the bar at around 7pm and tried to speak to him.

Prosecuting at Chester Magistrates Court, Rob Youds said: “He seemed to be constantly staring at her chest so she used her arms to cover herself up.”

Nield ordered a drink but continued to stare. He then blurted out a sexual remark about her breasts.

“The comment appeared really aggressive and she was stunned and shocked,” Mr Youds said.

Later that evening Nield knocked on the door of a neighbour and began pestering her, asking if she had a boyfriend.

He went away but came back, with the woman resorting to turning off the lights pretending not to be in.

Over the following days he appeared at a restaurant in Chester city centre and began making inappropriate comments to a waitress.

“He said: ‘you are looking fit today, you’d look well fit in a bikini’,” Mr Youds said. “He was then told to leave.”

The defendant returned to the pub where he first caused a nuisance and made another comment, after which police were called and he was arrested.

The offences put him in breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed by a crown court judge.

Nield, who has 25 previous convictions including one for exposure, pleaded guilty to three breaches of the CBO and four of the SHPO.

“He said he had an issue at work and had been on a bender and committed the offences,” Mr Youds said.

Peter Barnett, defending, said his client had not been in trouble for around two years, apart from one conviction in January this year for a racially aggravated public order offence.

Described as a "very capable painter and decorator", Nield suffers with a form of autism called Asperger’s which means he has difficulty in social situations.

“He can’t forge relationships or speak with females unless he’s drunk and then he makes sexually inappropriate comments,” Mr Barnett said. “When he looks back as a sober person he can see what he’s done is wrong.”

Magistrates decided the case was too serious for them to deal with and sent it to Chester Crown Court for sentencing on November 22.

Nield was released on bail with the condition that he abides by a curfew between 6pm and 6am.