A MAN travelling on a bus from Carlisle city centre left fellow passengers shocked as they saw him expose his genitals and touch himself sexually.

Police identified the culprit after two women reported what they had seen and police examined the bus’s CCTV footage, which allowed them to identify the offender, 43-year-old Carlisle man Scott Barton.

At Carlisle Crown Court, he was sentenced after earlier pleading guilty to an allegation of outraging public decency.

The court heard that two young women boarded the bus in the city centre and, a few stops later, Barton arrived, taking the seat immediately behind them.

One of the women later reported that she noticed Barton touching himself in the groin area, at that stage on top of his clothing. She looked away, but when she glanced in his direction a short time later he was she realised he had removed his genitals from his shorts and appeared sexually aroused.

He was continuing to touch himself, the court heard.

Shocked by this, the two women immediately moved seats, doing their best to ignore him. As they left the bus a short time later, they alerted the bus driver to what they had seen before running home and calling the police.

Judith McCullough, for Barton, of McIlmoyle Way, Denton Holme, said he accepted that his behaviour that day was unacceptable but he denied that he was performing a sex act. His shame and regret for what happened were genuine.

The barrister said: “He has cut down his alcohol intake and no longer misuses drugs.”

At work, said Miss McCullough, Barton was a valued member of his team. The barrister added: “This offence was out of character, an isolated incident.”

Judge David Potter noted that Barton had been medicating his ADHD by regularly using alcohol but what he did on the bus had “clearly caused alarm and distress” to the two females who saw him.

He did what he did in broad daylight, on public transport. “Clearly, it outraged public decency; and it is therefore, in my judgement, serious enough to warrant a community penalty,” said the judge.

Judge Potter imposed a three-year community order, with 20 rehabilitation activity days, a 100-day tagged alcohol abstinence monitoring order, and a requirement to complete an accredited sex offender treatment programme.