David Delahunty, 56, could be jailed just for saying hello to a woman he does not know.
A judge imposed the ban after Delahunty admitted sexual assault. He walked up to a stranger at a bus stop, kissed her on the cheek and told her she was a “bonny lass”.
But he then terrified the woman by making lewd suggestions and falsely claiming he was a rapist who had just been freed from prison.
The victim, in her 20s, was left feeling “disgusted and frightened”, the judge was told. Delahunty, of Carlisle, Cumbria, was given a nine-month suspended jail term and 120 hours’ community work.
He was also put on the Sex Offenders Register and made subject to a Sex Offences Prevention Order.
The order bans him from speaking to any woman he does not know in a public place for the next ten years, except in an emergency. He faces up to five years in jail if he breaches the terms.
Delahunty had been drinking heavily before the incident, Carlisle Crown Court was told. Judge Paul Batty called it “a disgraceful episode”.
Delahunty’s lawyer Keith Thomas said: “He grew up in a big family where such banter was commonplace.
He realises this has to cease and he should not talk to any woman he does not know
