Pervert caught masturbating in Leeds library and on city bus avoids jail

A probation report said the best way to protect the public was to give sex offender George Kennedy a community order.

Appearing at Leeds Crown Court this week via video link from HMP Hull, he admitted three charges of exposure.

Prosecutor Lydia Carroll said Kennedy’s offending began on August 13 last year, when he boarded a number 16 bus in Leeds city centre at around 5pm.

He sat upstairs where there were only two other female passengers. He moved seats several times until he was sat on the same row as one of the women.

She then noticed he had his penis out and was masturbating. Disturbed, she got up quickly and told the other female, and they both went to the bottom deck and reported it to the driver.

Grinning at the woman, Kennedy then got off the bus and raised his middle finger as it drove away.

On September 9 a woman was standing at a bus stop on Bradford Road, Stanningley, when Kennedy approached and was staring at her before he took his penis out and touched himself.

The woman believed he was doing it to get a reaction from her.

Then on the morning of October 2, a woman had been using a computer at the Farsley Community Hub and Library on Old Road, when Kennedy sat near her.

She noticed him glancing at her and when he got up to leave, he was looking at her and “playing with his penis with both hands”.

The woman reported it and the police were called. Kennedy was still in the library when they arrived to arrest him. He was recognised as the wanted man from the bus images two months prior.

The 49-year-old, of Gamble Hill Croft, Bramley, gave a no-comment police interview. He has no previous convictions.

He was bailed, but failed to attend a next court appearance so was arrested and held on remand.

There were questions over his fitness to plea, but he later admitted the offences after initially electing a trial.

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Little mitigation was offered on his behalf after Judge Tom Bayliss KC said he would follow probation’s recommendation.

He told Kennedy: “This was persistent offending. It’s very distressing for those who encountered it.”

He said Kennedy “richly deserved” a prison sentence, but said because he had been locked up since November, he opted to impose a two-year community order with 30 rehabilitation days to address his offending.

He was also put on the sex offender register for five years.

Judge Bayliss warned Kennedy that his feet “would not touch the ground” should be offend again or breach his order.