Flasher jailed for accosting student
A SEX offender followed a female student home from her part-time bar job and exposed himself to her before going on the run to Ireland.
Mortgage broker Ryan Thomas, 26, committed the offences after being deported from Australia back to the UK just six months before for sexual assault and indecent exposure.
Sentencing him at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge Neil Bidder QC described him as a “persistent” sexual offender.
The court heard he was deported from Australia in December 2015 and met by police at Heathrow Airport.
Owen Williams, prosecuting, said the defendant received a summons to attend Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, but failed to attend.
He was subsequently arrested at home and an order was made in January 2016, requiring him to register as a sex offender for seven years.
Prosecutors said a Gwent Police officer visited him and thoroughly explained the orders’ requirements.
Thomas was required to keep the police informed of his whereabouts, including any travel plans.
Mr Williams said just a few months later in June 2016 a female student was walking home from her part-time job at a bar in Cardiff. She had finished her shift just after 3am and was walking along Mill Lane, where she was followed by the defendant.
Mr Williams said: “He continued to follow about a metre behind her. She became scared.”
She walked towards St David’s shopping centre and stopped to let him pass, but he turned to look directly at her and exposed himself through the unzipped fly of his trousers.
Prosecutors said the woman kept walking towards the Hayes Island Snack Bar and phoned her boyfriend, but Thomas followed her again.
The court heard he jumped over a bench, holding his trousers up, and performed a sexual act while making eye contact with her.
She hurried back to the bar and called the police, who later arrested him at his home. She picked him out during an identity procedure.
Thomas initially denied the offence but changed his plea on the day his trial was due to start. His case was adjourned for sentence until October 2016, but prosecutors said he failed to attend and fled to the Republic of Ireland. A warrant was issued for his arrest.
He was arrested by Garda in December 2016 in Lower O’Connell Street in Dublin and they found a warrant had been issued in south Wales. Thomas was jailed for two and a half years for sexual assault and drug-related offences. He was then extradited and returned to the UK via Cardiff Airport.
The defendant, from George Street in Cwmcarn, admitted exposure, failing to surrender to custody, and failing to comply with the sex offender notification requirements.
Thomas was jailed for three years and two months and must register as a sex offender for the next 10 years.