Persistent ageing Leeds sex pest 'subjects women to shocking experiences'

Sixty-six-year-old Peter Clarke has pleaded guilty to further counts of indecent exposure following incidents in Armley in August.

Held on remand in HMP Leeds, he appeared via video link at Leeds Crown Court this week to be sentenced, but the judge, Recorder Simon Jackson KC said a full probation report was required into his offending.

He told the court: “He subjects women to the shocking and unpleasant experience of approaching them and causing them anxiety as he exposes himself or masturbates in their presence.

"It’s rare to see somebody who has this many offences. He is either a criminal who regards himself indifferent to the law or there maybe some underlying psychological issue that needs to be addressed.”

He adjourned the case for four weeks. Clarke, of no fixed address, has 68 previous offences, half of which are for sexual offending, with almost “a score for indecent exposure”, Recorder Jackson told the court.

He was jailed for 16 months in August of 2019 after he groped two lone women in Leeds city centre. Then in April 2021 he was jailed again for using a mobile phone to film up a woman's skirt at a Holland and Barrett store in Leeds. He was already banned from having such a device because of his history. He was jailed on that occasion for 20 months.

Described by one judge as a “sexual menace” previous courts have heard that he “struggles with his sexual urges”.