'Lonely' homeless Leeds flasher asked to be jailed after latest arrest
A homeless flasher who frequently breaches the term of the sex offender register asked a judge to be jailed.
Craig Phillips is stuck in a cycle of being incarcerated and then released onto the streets, Leeds Crown Court heard this week.
He has almost a dozen breaches of the register terms - that he fails to tell police within three days that he is homeless, so is arrested and returned to custody.
His barrister, James Holding, said that the “lonely” 48-year-old did not want to be considered for a suspended sentence after his latest violation, so the judge gave him a nine-month term.
The court learned that Phillips was first convicted in 2006 of sexual assault, then for exposure in 2010 and again in 2014. He was automatically put on the sex offender register each time.
Prosecutor Carmel Pearson said he would breach the register annually.
On June 19 this year he was released and was meant to stay at premises he was assigned to in Cleckheaton, but left the accommodation without explanation.
On July 12 he was stopped by police on Park Row in Leeds, before they realised he was wanted and arrested him.
He has 137 offences on his criminal record, including the multiple breaches.
Mr Harding told the court: “He constantly fails to comply with those requirements - his last eight convictions are all for the exact same offences.
“He simply fails to report to the police, lives on the streets and is then arrested. There’s never any risk of harm to any person as a result of his failure to comply.
“He is not hiding or trying to get away from the police, he lives in Leeds city centre.”
Mr Harding said there was “obvious loneliness” and it was a “rather sad life” that he led without any family or friends.
The judge, Recorder Tom Little KC said that due to the persistent breaches, he raised the starting point above the usual 36-weeks’ jail for breaching the sex offender register terms, giving him the nine-month jail term.