Caine Sparkes 41

Description

A man who flashed his penis on a South London bus to 'have a look at it' has been spared jail. Caine Sparkes exposed himself in front of disgusted passengers on a 155 bus, which runs between Elephant and Castle and Tooting, on November 9 last year, apparently to check his penis rather than for others see, Inner London Crown Court heard on Tuesday (April 9).

The 41-year-old of Ouseley Road, Wandsworth, was sat on the lower deck towards the front of the double-decker bus, at around 8:30pm, when he pulled genitals over the waistband of his trousers 'on several occasions', prosecutor Alex Ng told the court.

"It was brief exposures, from the CCTV. He took it out and he had a look at himself, rather than intending for others to look at it. At some stage his left hand was inside his trousers near the private part, but there's no obvious signs he was doing anything down his trousers," said Mr Ng.

Police were called by a witness of the act, but they refused to give their details. The call and CCTV evidence was enough to secure a conviction, but a victim impact statement was not provided for Tuesday's hearing.

Just over a month after the incident, Sparkes was arrested at his supported living home on December 19. Sparkes admitted a single count of exposure at Croydon Magistrates'. He was also charged with failing to pay a bus fare, but this was not mentioned at Tuesday's hearing.

Sparkes was previously convicted of outraging public decency in 2007, and has a number of offences for low level thefts. Mr Ng said there was no raised harm or culpability, apart from the presence of others on the bus, as he called for a fine or Community Order.

The judge called Sparkes' Hestia support worker to the witness stand, who explained his life in high-level supported living where he can go and come back as he wants but must heed the rules when he is at home. Defence counsel Adrian Macho called for a specific mental health intervention to address his client's issues.

A probation worker, who authored the pre-sentence report, also said Sparkes' additional needs would be best catered for by Hestia, as he agreed with the defence about the need for specialist mental health treatment.

Judge Ian Darling told Sparkes: "You have pleaded guilty to a serious offence of exposure on the 155 bus in the mid-evening of November last year. The reason why that is a serious offence is because it happened on a bus with other members of the public, and possibly young children could have been present. That's why the court takes it so seriously."

Judge Darling said the concerns about Sparkes' mental health were being dealt with by his team in Wandsworth, and therefore the case could be dealt with by a 12-month Community Order. This also included a 12-month mental health treatment requirement and 10 days of rehabilitation activity requirement to stop Sparkes repeating his display.

"Providing you comply with the order, all will be well. If you fail to comply, without reasonable excuses, you may be brought back to court and resentenced," warned Judge Darling.