Serial flasher who exposed himself in window branded 'a danger to females'

MAN ALREADY HAD CONVICTION FOR 'STRIKINGLY SIMILAR' OFFENCE, HULL CROWN COURT HEARD

- By MARK NAYLOR

ASERIAL flasher has been branded a “real danger to females” after he left a young woman shocked and horrified when he shamelessly exposed himself to her while he was standing at his window apparently naked from the waist down.

She was innocently walking down the street when she suddenly saw him staring straight at her while touching himself intimately.

The experience had a “pretty devastating” impact on her - and he had a previous conviction for a “strikingly similar” offence, Hull Crown Court heard.

Patrick Taylor, 28, of Anlaby Road, west Hull, denied an offence of exposure on May 23 but he was convicted by a jury after a trial. He had, ironically, elected to have a trial by jury.

Jane Rapin, prosecuting, said that people walking along Anlaby Road might expect to see some things as they did so - but they would not expect to see a half-naked man exposing himself at the window of a residential property.

“This is not, after all, Amsterdam,” said Miss Rapin.

The young woman had never seen Taylor before. She left her boyfriend’s home at 10.30am and began the 30-minute walk home. She decided to stop at shops on Anlaby Road but, shortly before arriving at them, she noticed a man naked from the waist down standing in the window of a property and touching himself sexually.

“She realised that he was looking straight at her,’ said Miss Rapin. The woman was “shocked and distressed” and looked away. She telephoned her boyfriend and contacted her mother.

She intended to call the police but realised that she did not know the exact address where it happened so walked back there. All the blinds were now shut and there was nobody at the window.

She reported the matter to the police and Taylor was arrested on May 25.

The young woman told the court: “I was going back to my mum's and I was stopping at the shops on my way home. I set off from my boyfriend’s at about 10.30am. It was about half an hour.