Girl 'scared to leave her house' after sex attack

A TEENAGE girl today told how she has been left too terrified to leave home alone following a sex attack by a pensioner as she waited at a bus stop.

The 15-year-old schoolgirl was sexually assaulted by 68-year-old Richard Bargon on Leith Walk after he dragged her into an alleyway. Days later he carried out a similar attack on a woman on Leith Walk.

The elderly pervert has been jailed for nine months after a court heard he had offered the teenager cash for sexual services before grabbing hold of her and carrying out the attack.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the Evening News that the ordeal had left her "traumatised" and suffering from nightmares.

She was waiting for a bus home when Bargon approached her. She said: "He began making comments that I was a lovely girl but I just tried to ignore him. I just thought he was drunk."

After offering money for sexual favours, Bargon seized her arm and started to push and pull her, forcing her hand to touch him intimately before dragging her into an alleyway.

The teenager managed to break free and run to the home of her 17-year-old cousin and tell him what had happened. He went back and found the pensioner walking down Leith Walk, following him into Springfield Street.

The cousin called the police and officers found Bargon nearby and arrested him following the incident at around 7pm on November 22.

Just three days later, Bargon was arrested for a second attack on Leith Walk on a woman believed to be in her 30s. He pleaded guilty to placing her in a state of fear by asking her for sexual favours and committing a breach of the peace.

The schoolgirl said: "I was very happy he was jailed but I think he should have got longer."

Her 17-year-old cousin said: "Bargon will be out quite soon and my cousin's worried that he will go looking for her. He should have got a longer sentence. He's a sick pervert.

"He must have been standing at that bus stop for about an hour-and-a-half. He had jumped out at my little sister and scared her. He was also looking at all the young girls.

"But it could have been a lot worse if my cousin hadn't managed to get away."

Bargon, whose address was given as Saughton Prison, pleaded guilty to the two attacks and was sentenced to nine months at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Wednesday.