Description
A serial sex offender openly engaged in "lewd and disgusting" behaviour in front of women in Swansea city centre, a court has heard. Richard Pugh performed a sex act in front of the females and "stared intently" at them as they walked to a car park after work.
Pugh has a long history of sexual offending including indecent assaults and exposure, and is currently subject to a sexual harm prevention order banning him from following women, entering female toilets, and approaching within five metres of a woman in any public car park. He was identified as carrying out his latest offending after plain-clothes police officers were deployed to the area and recognised him.
Sending the 47-year-old defendant back to prison a judge at Swansea Crown Court told him that not only had he demeaned the women involved in the incidents but had also demeaned himself as a man and as a human being.
Alycia Carpanini, prosecuting, said that at around 6pm on August 10 this year two women were walking passed St David's Priory church hall in Swansea city centre en route to their parked cars when they saw a male - later identified as Pugh - sitting on the floor. As the pair passed they saw the defendant had his hand down his trousers and was masturbating while "staring intently" at them. The two women hurried in their way. The court heard that the next day one of the women was following the same route to her car when she saw Pugh again - he tried to speak to her but she ignored him and walked on.
The prosecutor said on August 14 the same woman was again walking passed the church at a little after 5pm when she Pugh once again with hands down his trousers masturbating and "mumbling". The matter was reported to the police and two police officers in plain clothes were sent to the area. They saw a man matching the defendant's description and identified him as Pugh. The court heard the defendant was arrested at his home address on August 16 and the following day the two women from the August 10 incident positively identified him. In his interview Pugh gave a prepared statement in which he denied the allegations.
Richard Barrie Pugh, aged 47, of The Strand, Swansea city centre, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of outraging public decency and two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 19 previous convictions for 39 offences including multiple counts of indecent exposure with intent to insult any female, indecent assault, and sexual assault. He also has 12 previous breaches of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) that was imposed in Mold Crown Court in 2016. The court heard that under the conditions of the SHPO he is prohibited from following women, entering female toilets, and approaching within five metres of a woman in any public car park.
Andrew Evans, for Pugh, said the best mitigation he could put forward was the defendant's guilty pleas. He said Pugh had been released from his last custodial sentence in June this year and placed in a hostel on The Strand in Swansea by the Probation Service. He said following his arrest the defendant was recalled back to prison to serve the remainder of the previously imposed custodial sentence and is not due to be released until 2026.
Judge Huw Rees told Pugh he had engaged in "lewd, disgusting and persistent behaviour" in the city centre, and he said by his behaviour the defendant had degraded other people and - though Pugh may be slow to realise it - had degraded himself as a man and as a human being. The judge said the sentence he was going to impose had to start immediately and would therefore run concurrently with the defendant's period on recall meaning the new sentence would not increase the length of time of Pugh's incarceration, a situation the judge said was, in his view, "unfortunate".
With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Pugh was sentenced to 16 months in prison comprising eight months for the outraging public decency offences and 16 months for the breaches of the SHPO to run concurrently. The SHPO will continue and Pugh was put on the sex offenders register for the next 10 years. Pugh is already subject to an indefinite sexual registration.