Pensioner carried out sex act while on bus

A PENSIONER committed a sex act on a bus in front of a horrified young woman on her way home from work.

David Bretherton, of Helmcroft Court in Haslingden, was found guilty of exposing himself after a trial at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court on January 15.

The 73-year-old returned to court on Tuesday, February 23 to be sentenced.

Magistrates heard a young woman, who cannot be named, was on the X43 bus from Manchester to Haslingden in March last year.

She was sat watching a film on her phone when she became aware of a fellow passenger sat across from her who was staring at her.

Prosecutor Scott Parker said: “At first she thought nothing of it, thinking he was looking out of the window, but he continued to stare and she felt uneasy and anxious.

“She thought he was touching himself in the groin area and was moving his hands up and down quite quickly.

“She couldn’t see his [genitals] at that point but there was no doubt in her mind that’s what he was doing.”

The court heard the young woman ‘moved to get a better view’ to confirm her suspicions.

“He saw her do this and smiled at her, she could see his pants were open, the zip was down and his hands were over the top of his groin.

“She felt trapped in the situation and started to video him. She could see in-between his thumb and finger he was holding a bit of skin that was the shaft of his penis.”

Bretherton, who the court heard does voluntary work, stopped what he was doing when the woman stood up to move.

She moved to the back of the bus and asked two women to help.

He got off the bus and later handed himself in to police. The court heard the woman ‘got home and burst into tears’ and had to take some time off work after the terrifying incident.

Defence solicitor David Feingold handed four references to the magistrates and said a Probation Service report revealed Bretherton was sorry for the distress he caused the woman.

“He is previously a man of very good character,” Mr Feingold added.

“The pre-sentence report made it quite clear that he recognises the effect and he is at low risk of re-offending.”

The court heard Bretherton, who lives alone, receives around

£770 from his State Pension.

“He is a frugal man who drinks very little but he had drunk two pints of ale; whether that had an effect on him on that day,” his solicitor added.

Magistrates agreed that the offence ‘did not cross the custody threshold’.

However, they said ‘this was a serious sexual offence’ and ordered that Bretherton take part in a divisional sexual offender unit course.

He was told to take part in 50 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days, fined £50 and told to pay £620 costs and a £90 victim surcharge.

He was also given a two-year restraining order preventing him from travelling on the X41 or X43 bus services at specified times of the day and was given a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning him from intentionally exposing his genitals.