Kentish Express Ashford & District
BMW driver exposed himself to French children on coach
Children from a French school on a trip through Kent were stunned when they looked out through their coach window.
Stalking them in a BMW was a man at the wheel – wearing NOTHING but his seat belt!
The shocked youngsters began taking pictures with their mobile phones on the A20 trip from Folkestone to Maidstone – and police were able to track down the driver.
Now former prison officer Anand Singh, 37, has admitted twice committing lewd acts outraging public decency.
And Canterbury Crown Court heard he had also be stopped on a third occasion for doing the same thing and received a police caution.
Now Singh, of Pardoners Way, Dover has been given a six month jail sentence suspended for two years – and ordered to undergo treatment for his sex problems.
The voluntary worker was also fined £200 and banned from driving for six months after pleading guilty to careless driving.
Prosecutor Robert de Banzie said in February Singh was driving his BMW car along the A2 from Canterbury to Dover.
He was clothed but he had exposed himself, which was noticed by at least four witnesses travelling on a Stagecoach bus.
He was driving while touching himself indecently. Witnesses saw the BMW undertaking and then overtaking the coach at an unusually low speed.
“It reached the front of the bus before drifting back. It then sped up again and disappeared from sight.”
Mr De Banzie said a week earlier a coach full of French schoolchildren was travelling along the A20 at 10.30am to 11.30am between Folkestone and Maidstone.
He said: “On this occasion the defendant was completely naked. Again he roared alongside the coach while abusing himself.
“He pulled alongside the bus before reducing his speed and making eye contact with witnesses on the bus.
“These included a number of children who proceeded to film him using their phones.”
The court heard that police were able to use the photographs to get the BMW’s registration number and later questioned Singh who initially denied touching himself indecently.
Singh was also cautioned for a similar incident.
Simon Taylor, defending, said: “It was only ever going to be selfdestruction, driving in his own car along a motorway completely naked is hardly sneaky or sophisticated!”
At the time of the offences Singh was undergoing a marital break-up and experienced three bereavements.
Mr Taylor said Singh had worked in the prison service for 13 years – helping rehabilitate others.
After leaving he took a job in the voluntary sector “helping others” but had now been punished and had brought humiliation on him and his family.
Singh now hopes to run a mobile catering unit outside a Kent rail station.
Judge Adele Williams told him: “What you did on these occasions was selfish and irresponsible.
“You were suffering from personal problems which had led you into a depression. But to inflict your problems on others, including children, is wholly unacceptable!”