Parents who watched as the man who sexually abused their daughter walked free from court say the judge in the case should be sacked.

Convicted paedophile Eric Cole, 71, of Bedford, was given a nine-month suspended sentence at Oxford Crown Court last week after admitting assaulting a six-year-old girl in Barton in 2006.

Cole, jailed nine years ago for abusing a 12-year-old girl, was told by Judge Julian Hall to pay a £250 fine. The judge suggested the money could go towards getting his victim a new bike to help cheer her up.

The case provoked a national outcry after the Oxford Mail broke the story.

The girl's mother, 41, and step-father, 38, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were furious after Cole avoided a jail sentence on Thursday.

Yesterday, the girl's mother said they had found it impossible to find the words to tell their daughter, who is now seven, that her abuser is still a free man.

She said: "I would have liked to have seen him go away for a long time. Why should he get away with it? My daughter is so nervous at the moment and asked us what had happened after court.

"I couldn't speak so I told her to ask her dad but he was too angry to tell her.

"She asked 'did he get put away' and I almost started saying 'no he didn't, but he's giving you £250', but stopped. I couldn't."

The girl's step-father said: "I would like to see Judge Hall struck off. At the end of the day he let a paedophile walk free.

"What really annoyed me was what he said about getting this girl a push bike to cheer her up. He is not from this planet."

The court was told the girl's mother saw Cole with her daughter in the back garden of their home with his hands down her trousers in July last year.

Judge Hall told Cole he needed therapy, but that could only happen with a community punishment. He fined Cole £250 to be paid as compensation to her victim and ordered him to take a sexual offenders' programme.

Cole was also banned from being in the company of girls under 16 for five years.

The family called out to Judge Hall as he read his sentence, pleading for Cole to be jailed but he replied that it was the best way for young girls to be safe.

The girl's mother said: "That isn't going to get her over the trauma. I wouldn't mind speaking to Judge Julian Hall myself and ask, 'why didn't you put him away?'

"When he said the £250 could go on a bike I started crying. It is strange because she doesn't need a new bike - she got one for her birthday last year.

"It's hard to move on but we will have to find a way."

She added that a lot of her friends and family remained angry, but given the chance she did not know what she would say if she met Cole.

The family is considering taking legal advice about a possible appeal against the sentence.