A cleaner who "took leave of his senses" and showered kisses on an 87-year-old woman at a Bristol residential care home will never work with the elderly again, a judge has ruled.

Geoffrey Morley kissed the elderly Alzheimer's sufferer from her knees to the top of her head before giving her a hug.

Morley, 57, of Harrington Avenue, Stockwood, was caught in the act by a care worker and arrested at his home the same day.

He admitted a single charge of sexual assault and was handed a three-year community order with a supervision requirement, a Sexual Offences Prevention Order stopping him from having any job involving the care of the elderly and was ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders' register for five years.

Fiona Elder, prosecuting at Bristol Crown Court, said Morley's vulnerable elderly victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had been sitting in a lounge in her nightclothes on the evening of November 16 last year when he pounced.

"He kissed the woman on each leg just above the knee.

"She was in her nightdress. He kissed her arms in a similar manner and finally kissed the top of her hair.

"He did not accept that he licked her face or forced himself on her.

"He accepts the circumstances were sexual. His actions took place when he helped the woman get to her feet from a sitting position. When she got to her feet he hugged her," said Ms Elder.

She said a care worker saw the kissing and told Morley to go to the office.

There, she said, he told the supervisor in charge that he had touched the resident on her leg and was "ashamed of himself".

Morley was arrested at his home later that evening.

Ms Elder said his victim, who also has difficulty hearing, would not have been able to consent to any sexual activity and would not have known what was happening.

She said the woman's family had expressed "considerable anger and disbelief" at what had gone on.

Rosaleen Collins, defending, described the kisses as a "brief peck" and said her client had been fond of the old lady.

She said he now realised that what he did was inappropriate.

Sentencing Morley, Judge Julian Lambert told him: "No one will know why you did what you did. You probably don't know why you did it yourself. You completely took leave of your senses when you had a mental imbalance.

"I'm going to put you on probation for three years. I can do that because I am constrained by what the sentencing guidelines says is appropriate in cases such as this."