A SEX attacker has escaped a jail sentence after committing a series of bizarre assaults on five teenage girls.

Dale Cranshaw, aged 29, admitted the five charges, which involved flicking semen on to the victims’ clothing, in incidents in Prestwich, Whitefield and Bury.

A court also heard Cranshaw filmed teenage girls from the bedroom window of his home in Calder Crescent, Whitefield, and took pictures of them in the street.

When he was arrested he told police: “I don’t know why I did it. I need help.”

Judge Elliot Knopf imposed a three-year community and supervision order on Cranshaw at Bolton Crown Court.

Cranshaw was also ordered to complete a sex rehabilitation programme and to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years.

Judge Knopf’s view was that jailing Cranshaw, who served three months in prison on remand, would limit the therapy for his sexual depravity.

The first offence took place on November 13, 2009, when a 14-year-old girl was on her way home from school and she got off the bus in Kennedy Drive, Unsworth.

Cranshaw asked her for the time and she got out her phone and showed it to him before carrying on walking.

But Cranshaw followed her and she later noticed a substance on her clothing.

The court heard the victim was scared, crying and shaking as her mum called police.

Cranshaw struck for the second time on the morning of December 7, 2009, in Ostrich Lane, Prestwich.

A 15-year-old girl was walking with her younger sister to school when Cranshaw walked up to her, causing her to panic and feel nervous. She later found a substance on her clothing.

Police received their next report just 10 days later. On that occasion, a 14-year-old girl was in Bury town centre Christmas shopping with her mum when Cranshaw twice pretended to trip up close to her. A shopkeeper later told police he saw Cranshaw smear a substance onto the girl’s clothing.

It was at 8.40am on January 25, 2010, when the fourth assault took place.

A 15-year-old girl was walking with a friend along Pinfold Lane, Whitefield, and she saw Cranshaw cross the road to them before giving her a “weird look”, the court heard.

She later found a substance on her clothing.

It was at that point that police publicised a CCTV image of Cranshaw, taken during the Bury town centre assault. There were no more reported incidents then for three years.

But on January 11 this year, a 13-year-old girl walked past Cranshaw in Kennedy Drive and he stretched out his hands.

She saw a substance on her clothing and, the court heard, Cranshaw said: “Oh, are you alright, darling?” and he walked off, leaving her crying.

Four of the five cases involved girls wearing school uniform.

As Cranshaw, wearing a smart grey suit, wept in the dock, defence counsel Austin Welch said: “The defendant’s family and friends speak of him in glowing terms.

“He is a caring, polite young man and they are all extremely shocked and surprised by his behaviour.

“He has expressed his deep shame, remorse and embarrassment.

“He understands the deep upset that he has caused to those girls and wishes to apologise to them and his friends and family who have come to support him.”

After interviewing Cranshaw, Dr Paul Strickland wrote in a psychiatric report: “Sending him to custody would be a fruitless, punitive exercise.”

Judge Knopf said it was far from typical of other sexual assault offences.

He said: “The question is, where does the public interest lie?

”Sending you to custody means only limited help..

“You seemed to have got some sexual satisfaction from doing these things.

“If you were to re-offend, you could go to prison for five years. ”