A 13-year-old sex fiend who groped three woman in less than a week has asked to apologise to his victims face-to-face.

The boy, who does not attend school, was given a 12-month supervision order for three counts of sexual assault, which he pleaded guilty to at Camberwell Green Youth Court.

Croydon Youth court heard how on October 14 the boy followed a 16-year-old girl into an underpass in central Croydon and, after asking her what the time was, grabbed her and assaulted her.

She was saved by a passer-by who saw the attack and chased the boy off.

Later on that same day the boy attacked another woman near Purley train station.

The third attack was carried out on October 18 in South Croydon.

He was arrested by undercover officers who noticed a young man, matching the description given by victims, running away from them into a block of flats.

In interview he told officers he “just wanted to scare” the women and he would “even do it to my mum”.

The boy later claimed it was something he and his friends at school did “all the time”.

In an open letter to the women the boy said: “I'm very sorry for scaring you. My intention was to scare you, not to make you feel that what I did to you was sexual.

“Thank you for reporting it because now I know it was wrong.

“Once again I am massively sorry for the hurt I caused."