‘Sex act’ driver seen by officer
A GYM user who performed a sex act on himself while children were nearby has escaped punishment.
Stuart Edward Fletcher, 30, was parked outside the busy Sainsbury’s supermarket in Knutsford when an off-duty police officer spotted him rubbing himself.
Stockport Magistrates heard when other police officers arrested him Fletcher had claimed he was merely rubbing a leg injury sustained in the gym.
The court heard police also said he was in possession of ecstasy.
Fletcher, of Waltersgreen Crescent, Warrington, pleaded guilty to an act of outraging public decency and possessing a class A drug.
But, defending, Peter Buckley said his client rejected accusations he was looking at nearby children when performing the sex act.
Fletcher was fined £450 for drug possession but given a two-year conditional discharge for the indecent act, meaning he will only be punished for that if he commits further misdemeanours.
Mr Buckley said Fletcher was remorseful and added: “Mr Fletcher is absolutely mortified, he has never been in trouble before. He doesn’t accept he was looking at children.
“It is an absolute abomination, he describes it as a moment of madness. He was using cloths to dry himself from the gym, he got carried away.
“No one has been harmed, the only two people who saw this were fully grown men, one of which was an off-duty policeman.”
Costs of £85 were imposed as well as a £45 victim surcharge.