AN airport worker has been found guilty of attacking and sexually assaulting two teenagers as they walked alone in the early hours.

Paul Garden, from Birchwood, was convicted of two counts of sexual assault on the teens at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, January 21.

The 35-year-old, formerly of Armstrong Close, jumped out of an alleyway in Widnes as an a 19-year-old woman walked by at around 3.30am and touched her sexually over her clothing.

Four months later, he got out of his car and followed an 18-year-old woman as she walked home alone.

Garden, who works in duty free at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, then rugby tackled her to the floor and sexually assaulted her – with this attack also taking place in Widnes at a similar time in the morning.

As she screamed for help, the defendant ‘got up, laughed and ran off’.

During his trial, he claimed that he was following the second victim as he was ‘worried about her safety’ after spotted three hooded youths nearby.

Garden also claimed that she had grabbed hold of him before he pushed her over and ran away.

But a jury of five women and seven men returned unanimous guilty verdicts against him, with the victims and their families ‘struggling to keep their relief in check’ in the public gallery.

The pervert sat with his head in his hands in the dock as the verdicts were delivered.

He will be sentenced back at the court on Monday, February 24, and has been remanded into custody until that date.

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones imposed an order for Garden to sign the sex offenders’ register in the interim.