A baker has been jailed for groping his teenage shop assistants.

Des Ralfe, 53, molested his victims while his wife was out of sight, made lewd suggestions and regularly told staff: "Give us a kiss", Lewes Crown Court heard.

He also invited one assistant to a seafront hotel with him to drink champagne and make a video with another girl.

Ralfe, who has owned his Brighton bakery for 22 years, had denied six counts of indecent assault but was convicted of five counts by a jury.

The first victim told the court: "I leaned over to make a cup of tea and Mr Ralfe walked past and slapped my bottom and then just carried on and went to the other side.

"It wasn't a stinging slap but it was a slap. I certainly wasn't expecting it. I didn't really know how to react.

"I just tried to keep out of his way. At the time I was shocked that it had happened. Afterwards I was angry."

Another female victim told the jury: "It started about three weeks after I was there. He was right behind me when he started talking dirty words.

"He used to say, 'You've got a sexy bum' and 'give us a kiss'."

She described how she fended him off several times when he fondled her and tried to cuddle her as she was working.

She said: "I was shocked because it's not the sort of thing you expect from an employer. I kept it to myself for a bit but then I told my mate."

She also told how Ralfe asked her if she and another girl would make a video.

She said: "I thought he meant a dirty video. He also asked me if I would spend the night with him at the Grand Hotel.

"He said I didn't need any money and that he was going to get champagne and the best room. That just made me feel sick."

Another ex-employee said Ralfe had taunted her as "thick" and "fat" and once blocked her path and tried to kiss her as she walked through the bakery carrying a tray of croissants.

Giving evidence, Ralfe said there was "no way" he would have touched up any of his employees.

He said: "Because there was not a lot of space behind the counter we would all put our hands on people's shoulders in case they stepped back. It was only in case of an accident.

"These allegations are all untrue. I have never been that type of person and never will be."

His wife Sandra Ralfe told the court: "We have a lot of banter in the shop, sexual banter, but it's all just joking about."

Ralfe, of Valley Drive, Brighton, had previously been well-respected for his work raising money for good causes in the community.

He suffered a stroke in 2001 and lost the sight in one eye. He is also diabetic.

Jailing him for nine months, Judge Richard Brown told him: "As an employer of young girls you are trusted to care for them but you chose to verbally harass them and physically molest them.

"In choosing to deny these offences you've indicated you have no remorse. I have drastically reduced the sentence because of your age and health and because of your previous good character."

Ralfe was also ordered to register under the Sexual Offenders Act for ten years on his release from prison.

His brother Brian Ralfe told The Argus: "The whole family is quite devastated but we're all rallying around him.

"We've had a call from him in prison and he seems to be bearing up. He's strong and he'll pull through.

"I'm quite mystified how someone in such a medical condition can be sent down for so long.

"We all put the allegations down to shop banter. This acts as a warning to people in factories and shops not to get involved in any kind of banter at all."

He said the bakery would continue as normal.