Tibetan monk molested teenager Girl was fondled after being befriended with tales of Kung Fu and meditation

Chonjoe, 30, was staying at the remote Samye Ling monastery nestling in a glen by Eskdalemuir near Lockerbie. Chonjoe, who has a problem with alcohol, was a guest at the monastery and while he was there was not allowed to drink, smoke, sing, dance, or watch television.

He had left the Samye Ling to travel to London to see his wife but was mugged on a stop-off in Carlisle, Cumbria, and was forced to stay overnight.

He met the girl, who cannot be named, with her friends on the sunny afternoon on a park bench and decided to stay with them.

He went back to a bedsit with the girl and two of her friends and he then rubbed his hands up her legs and touched her right breast.

Police attended the scene on April 24 after they received reports of a disturbance.

Prosecutor Daniel Travers told Carlisle Magistrates Court: ''The girl lay down on a bed with her feet up against the wall and he put his head on her stomach and started stroking her left leg and squeezing her right breast.

''He started to pull her trouser leg up and rubbed his hands between her legs. The girl got up and went outside. She was very shocked.''

Chonjoe then left the bedsit and was arrested by police.

Because he had served nearly three months on remand he was released yesterday but was placed on the Sex Offender's Register for five years after pleading guilty to indecent assault. He will stay with friends in Newcastle after separating from his wife.

Chonjoe's solicitor Margaret Payne said: ''He left Scotland after living in a community there and was going down to London to see his wife. He got off the train in Carlisle and was mugged so had to stay in the city.

''When he met the girl he was talking to her and her friends about meditation and Kung Fu. He also read their fortunes. He said he was just giving the girl a massage which was acceptable in his culture but he now realised the English were more restrained and less trusting.''

The Samye Ling centre, which was founded by two refugee Tibetan abbots in 1967, was the first of its kind in the West and is now the biggest outside Tibet.

It was set up as a haven where people could escape from their problems and has been supported by celebrities including Ruby Wax, Billy Connolly, Richard Gere, Koo Stark, and David Bowie.

Guests who visit the centre, which is 30 miles north of Carlisle, are not allowed to smoke, drink, sing, dance or watch television. Instead they are encouraged to meditate and learn about Buddhism, one of the world's oldest religions, which preaches non violence and universal loving kindness.

As well as the monastery, Samye Ling houses a college of Tibetan medicine and a centre for Tibetan art, architecture and crafts.

The monastery is also at the centre of a seedy drugs and sex scandal. It is being investigated by police over claims its most senior monk molested a younger monk.

Samye Ling has been accused of protecting the molesting monk despite claims he has assaulted three men. It was also claimed those in charge turned a blind eye to drug use, sexual affairs, theft and deception.

The centre was opened with the official sanction of the Dalai Lama and also owns Holy Island, off Arran, and retreats in London, Dublin and Brussels.