A senior Scoutmaster has been jailed for indecently assaulting a young girl.

A court heard yesterday the 17-year-old was returning to her camp at the Scouts Eurojam at Hylands Park in Chelmsford during the summer when she was assaulted.

The girl from Scotland shook hands when she encountered Michael Okeme but Chelmsford Crown Court heard how the 46-year-old Nigerian indecently assaulted her.

She returned to her camp and told a Scout leader and police arrested Okeme later on.

Okeme, from Aisba in Nigeria, admitted a charge of sexually touching the teenager on August 7 when he appeared in court and was jailed for four months.

But as he has been in custody for the past 13 weeks and has served the equivalent of a four month sentence, he was expected to be released within days.

Richard Harwood, mitigating, said Okeme had been in the Scout movement for more than 20 years and was a senior Scoutmaster in Nigeria with the rank of special commissioner.

He regretted what had happened and wished to apologise to the girl.

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Published Wednesday, November 23, 2005

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