Pervert who terrorised Tesco staff 'masturbated' in front of dog walker in Leeds ginnel

Andrew Siberry, who has been jailed before for exposure in a children’s play park, left the woman “shocked and disgusted” when she saw him with his hands in his shorts while she walked through the ginnel between Ninelands Lane and Fairburn Drive in July of last year.

The 59-year-old then laid on the grass next to the walkway and was seen by a second man with his hand still in his shorts. He was still in that same position when the police arrived to arrest him.

Leeds Crown Court heard this week that Siberry then displayed “overly sexualised” behaviour at Elland Road police station, wanting to “caress” an officer’s baton, prosecutor Emma Handley said.

During his police interview, he denied any wrongdoing, said he was addicted to crack cocaine and claimed he could not masturbate because of a medical condition.

Miss Handley said it followed a string of alarming offences in which Siberry regularly abused and harassed staff and customers at the Tesco Express off Ninelands Lane. Police were called 17 times between May and July last year.

He regularly tried to steal from the store or demand a taxi be called for him, before becoming verbally abusive. He twice urinated outside the shop and on two occasions his shorts fell down, exposing himself to passers by.

Siberry also tried to buy a lighter in the nearby Fairburn Convenience Store, but turned violent after being refused service because of his demeanour. He tried to get behind the counter himself but when challenged by the shop worker, Siberry swung at him but only glancingly connected.

Siberry, of Cliff Top Park, Garforth, had been held on remand since his arrest in July and admitted two charges of exposure, one of battery and one of being a public nuisance.

He was jailed for 10 weeks in October 2020 at Leeds Magistrates’ Court after he was caught with his trousers down in the bushes at Garforth’s Barley Hill Road play park. A concerned parent followed him into the bushes due to his odd behaviour, where she found him peering over the shrubs with his right arm "moving rapidly", suggesting he was masturbating.

He initially denied an offence of outraging public decency, but later pleaded guilty. However, he put forward a basis of plea that he “needing to wee” because of urinary bowel incontinence.

For his latest offences, little mitigation was offered by his barrister, Richard Holland, who referred to medical reports into Siberry’s behaviour. The court heard that he would not receive the treatment required if he was to remain behind bars.

The judge, Recorder Anesh Pema acknowledged that the offending stemmed from his mental health issues. He also said with Siberry being held on remand for nearly six months, he had already served the equivalent to a 12-month sentence, given that most prisoners are released on licence at the half-way stage.

Instead, he gave him an 18-month community order, 35 rehabilitation days and ordered that the order be reviewed to monitor his progress. He was also banned from Fairburn Convenience Store for five years.