Optician jailed for 21 months after committing sex act while giving eye test to girl aged 14

John Gill was found guilty by a jury in November last year of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of the 14-year-old when she called for contact lenses at Clear Vision in the Arcade, Knottingley, West Yorkshire.

Judge Rodney Grant told Gill, 36, yesterday at Leeds Crown Court "I have come to the conclusion that the only proper sentence in your case is one of immediate imprisonment."

The girl had been his patient for some time and it involved a serious betrayal of trust which had caused her considerable distress.

The optician of Hunters Way, Selby, was also convicted by the jury of an earlier offence of outraging public decency after two women described seeing him masturbating through a window of the same premises in 2007.

At the time they did not complain but later went to police after publicity about the schoolgirl's allegation.

The judge jailed Gill for 18 months for the offence involving the schoolgirl and three months consecutive for the earlier offence. He barred him from contacting the schoolgirl under a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and ordered him to register his address as a sex offender for 10 years.

Gill showed no emotion as he was sentenced.

His barrister John Elvidge told the court he continued to deny the offences. The proceedings had been a public humiliation for him.

His reputation was in tatters and the impact on his business, which he had worked hard to build up over years, had been catastrophic.

He had also had problems in his marriage although there had since been "some reconciliation" with his wife.

Gill also had ongoing health problems including an abscess at the base of his spine which would need hospital treatment

"He feels sick at the prospect of custody and would do anything to avoid his incarceration."