A 60-year-old flasher who gave police the runaround at a Wakefield park has been given an Asbo.
Godfrey Bignell twice fled police after he was caught exposing himself and urinating in the park off Queen Elizabeth Drive, Eastmoor, earlier this month.
And yesterday (Sept 3) at Wakefield Magistrates Court, Bignell, of Harewood Road, Eastmoor, was slapped with an Asbo banning him from removing his trousers in public anywhere in the city.
Prosecutor Diane Gomersall told the court that police were called to the park in Eastmoor on the afternoon of August 21.
A resident reported seeing Bignell enter the park and walk up and down before exposing himself and urinating.
Ms Gomersall said the same resident told police she had been concerned for 12 months about repeated incidents of Bignell exposing himself in the same park.
When police arrived, they found Bignell and explained why they had been called.
Ms Gomersall said the resident then challenged him.
She told the court: “She shouted he was a dirty old man and he replied, ‘No I’m not.’
“He then made off on foot away from her and officers, who detained him a short distance away. He then made off again on foot. They gave clear instructions for him to stop.”
Officers eventually caught and arrested Bignell, who was found in possession of alcohol but denied being drunk.
At yesterday’s hearing, he pleaded guilty to one charge of outraging public decency.
Magistrates handed him a two year anti-social behaviour order which states he must not “whilst in a public place, remove or attempt to remove any items of clothing which cover the genital area, for example trousers, shorts or underwear.”
It also bans him from engaging in behaviour which would cause alarm or distress, possessing an open alcohol container or drinking in public anywhere in the Wakefield district.
He is also banned from Thornes Park and Wrenthorpe Park.
Defending, Linda Wood said an Asbo was the right punishment for her client.
Handing Bignell the Asbo and fining him £50 plus costs, bench chairman Pamela White said: “We find you have acted in an anti-social manner and that people need protection from further anti-social acts by you.”