Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Man downed cider and pills before motorbike ‘sex’
A man who turned to drink after his girlfriend left him was filmed romping with a motorbike in front of shocked bystanders.
Kevin Chapman, 34, knocked back paracetamol pills and a twolitre bottle of cider before exposing himself and simulating sex with a Suzuki outside Fenwick in Canterbury.
He appeared in court on Friday last week and admitted indecent exposure, as well as threatening his ex-partner’s new boyfriend and smashing up his love rival’s van with a crowbar.
Folkestone magistrates heard the former landscape gardener had gone straight to an offlicence at 11am on March 27 after being discharged from St Martin’s Hospital in Littlebourne Road.
By mid-afternoon he was so drunk he got into an argument with a group of rough sleepers near Fenwick, where he kicked over the motorbike before stamping on it, trying to set it on fire and urinating on it.
The incident was captured on CCTV, with Chapman seen to expose his genitals to bystanders and pretend to masturbate.
Prosecutor Neil Sweeney: “He continued shouting and swearing, exposing his penis and genitals to the people gathered. He then performed a simulated sex act.
“At interview he couldn’t remember what had happened, but officers showed him the footage and he accepts it was him.”
In court, probation staff said Chapman’s shocking behaviour stemmed from the breakdown of his “toxic” and “abusive” relationship with Stacey Holt.
In March last year he learned that Miss Holt was in a relationship with Russell Souter, who had worked with Chapman at a groundworks firm.
Two months later Chapman went round to Miss Holt’s home in New Romney armed with a crowbar and smashed up Mr Souter’s van and the front door, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Then, in January this year, he made threatening telephone calls to Mr Souter, telling him: “I’m going to cut you up until you are unrecognisable to your kids. I’m going to run you over in my van, you fat mug.”
In court, Chapman appeared visibly distraught by his actions, often tearful and at times burying his head in his hands.
Defence barrister Niall Doherty said his client should be given help to rehabilitate himself from his drink and drug problems.
“Because his business partner had become involved with his domestic partner, it had a profound effect, it really shook him,” he said.
“He found out he was being pushed out of his family home and he took it very badly indeed. At that point he turned to alcohol to self-medicate the pain he was feeling.
“He was not very happy to be released from St Martin’s Hospital after two weeks. He got into a row with homeless people and they were telling him to do things.
“He is adamant that there was goading and that he was encouraged by the homeless group and by youths.”
Chapman – now out of work and living in Chatham on £71 incapacity benefit a week – was ordered to undergo treatment for his alcohol addiction.
He was also given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for one year, and must pay £500 compensation to Mr Souter and £180 to Sam Llewellyn, the owner of the motorbike.