A 19-year-old student who has described himself as “shy” and “awkward” has almost ended up behind bars after touching a schoolmate’s arm and waist as he was trying to talk to her.

Jamie Griffiths has resorted to search engines to find out “how to make a friend” after he had troubles making any contact with girls at the school whatsoever.

Energized by the ideas presented online, the student, who aimed to go to Oxford, approached his crush on the street and touched her arm. In all nervousness, however, he allegedly couldn’t come up with any words.

During the second encounter of this type, the 17-year-old girl whom Jamie approached ran away in tears and reported the young man to the police.

“I felt extremely anxious in the following weeks, often breaking down into tears. I was completely unable to walk anywhere by myself without being overcome by fear,” she said in a statement.

“The stress and anxiety caused meant that I was unable to focus or revise as I was continuously crying (and) feeling unsafe even in my own home.

“Every time I go to the place the first incident took place my heart stops and I mentally prepare myself to see him there. All of this happening when I’m in my final year at school I’m afraid it will have affected my grades and potentially my future.”

After the incident, Knutsford, Cheshire-based, Jamie was charged with sexual assault. While he evaded jail time, he was ordered to do over 200 hours of community work and pay the victim $300. He also had to join the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years.

While the victim and her mom claimed that Jamie would probably continue to harass her and take things further if she didn’t report him, the 19-year-old pleaded not guilty and said he was just a “shy, anxious and awkward” student who wanted to make friends with a girl “but the words didn’t come out,” making him look like a creep.

Speaking of the encounter to the court, the 17-year-old girl said:

“The pavement was quite wide but he suddenly moved to walk in front of me, looked me straight in the eye and touches me on my side and walked off.

“It was quite a while – three to five seconds. He smirked at me, he didn’t stop he just touched me and walked off and I broke down crying in the street – it was quite traumatic.”

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