A driver who knocked down a child and left him dying in the road has been jailed again - this time for assaulting a woman.

Failed asylum-seeker Kamel Kadri admitted common assault and was imprisoned for three months yesterday.

The sentence will run concurrently with a 22-month jail term handed out for motoring and passport offences in January.

Judge Anthony Thorpe railed against the law when he was forced to shorten the earlier sentence on a technicality from eight months to six.

He said: "The maximum penalties for offences are laid down by Parliament and the courts are bound by them.

"It may strike the public as inadequate but if it does their remedy lies with Parliament and not the courts."

Kadri, 38, ran down nine-year-old Callum "CJ" Oakford, on the A259 at Ferring and drove off on January 1.

Yesterday at Chichester Crown Court, Kadri admitted grabbing the arms and hair of a 27-year-old Colombian woman while begging for a kiss and her mobile phone number.

Simon Wild, prosecuting, said Kadri's face was printed on the front of The Argus - after police hunted him for the hit-and-run crash - and the victim immediately recognised her attacker and reported him.

Mr Wild said the woman was in Tarring Road, Worthing, at 5.30pm on November 29 when Kadri started making advances.

He said: "She walked off but he approached again. He grabbed her on the right arm and this time held her more firmly.

"He was strong and tried to pull her forward. He got hold of her jacket.

"Kadri started stroking her hair. She called for someone to help her but he said, 'I just want a kiss,' and was pulling her closer to him. She wriggled free."

Philip Meredith, defending, said: "It was an unpleasant offence and unwelcome attention. She managed to cope with it, to her credit, and it went no further than common assault."

Judge Thorpe said: "That young woman was clearly very frightened.

"You just would not accept she wanted nothing to do with you, a complete stranger.

"I do not condone any form of violence against women - no judge does - but this was mercifully at the lower end of the scale. I hope this is true, that you did not intend to do more to her than what in fact happened, but nonetheless she was very frightened."

Kadri is also serving a 16-month jail term for having a fake passport, which he used to con his way into England and get a cleaning job at Worthing Hospital.