A SIXTH form student who pounced on young girls has been sent to a special Hampshire unit for treatment.

The teenager accosted three girls and repeatedly tried to intercept another riding her bike home. He also groped a classmate.

Judge Graham White, who read psychiatric reports, said the teenager was suffering from a psychopathic disorder.

He would have some understanding what he had been doing was wrong but would find it difficult to understand the impact and distress it had on his victims.

The 17-year-old, who lives in Southampton, had admitted two offences of attempted abduction, and one each of harassment, attempted kidnap and indecent assault.

Prosecutor Richard Willcox said they began in December, 2006, when an 11-year-old girl on her way to school became aware of the teenager walking behind her.

He put an arm over her face but said nothing. She kicked out and broke free, running to a nearby friend's house whose mother saw she was "upset and crying".

A few days later, a 17-year-old girl was leaving her flat when she suddenly felt a hand around her mouth. Initially she thought it was someone she knew. She shook him off but was grabbed a second time. She pushed him away and he ran off.

On three occasions in five weeks, the teenager tried to intercept the same 14-year-old girl cycling home but she had eluded him.

A few days later on March 16, a 12-year-old saw the teenager sitting on a wall. He then ran up behind her, grabbed her around the middle and put his hands over her mouth. She tried to tell him to get off but he held onto her for a few minutes before running off.

The youth was arrested and bailed by magistrates before he indecently assaulted a 17-year-old girl before they were waiting to take exams at the same school. She saw him on stairs near the library. He told her she was sexy and groped her.

In mitigation, Charles Ward-Jackson said the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had a low IQ and was autistic.

He was not suffering from a mental illness or psychosis but a mental impairment that was susceptible to treatment. "There is no indication that he is suffering from more worrying fantasies or tendencies."

The judge said that if his autism had been diagnosed at an earlier age and he had received appropriate treatment, these offences might have not have happened.

The youth was also was placed on the sex offenders register for three-and-a-half years.