He already had a conviction for a ‘strikingly similar’ offence, Hull Crown Court heard
A serial flasher has been branded a “real danger to females” after he left a young woman shocked and horrified when he shamelessly exposed himself to her while he was standing at his window apparently naked from the waist down. She was innocently walking down the street when she suddenly saw him staring straight at her while touching himself intimately.
The experience had a “pretty devastating” impact on her – and he had a previous conviction for a “strikingly similar” offence, Hull Crown Court heard. Patrick Taylor, 28, of Anlaby Road, west Hull, denied an offence of exposure on May 23 but he was convicted by a jury after a trial. He had, ironically, elected to have a trial by jury.
Jane Rapin, prosecuting, said that people walking along Anlaby Road might expect to see some things as they did so – but they would not expect to see a half-naked man exposing himself at the window of a residential property. “This is not, after all, Amsterdam,” said Miss Rapin.
The young woman had never seen Taylor before. She left her boyfriend’s home at 10.30am and began the 30-minute walk home. She decided to stop at shops on Anlaby Road but, shortly before arriving at them, she noticed a man naked from the waist down standing in the window of a property and touching himself sexually.
“She realised that he was looking straight at her,” said Miss Rapin. The woman was “shocked and distressed” and looked away. She telephoned her boyfriend and contacted her mother.
She intended to call the police but realised that she did not know the exact address where it happened so walked back there. All the blinds were now shut and there was nobody at the window. She reported the matter to the police and Taylor was arrested on May 25.
The young woman told the court: “I was going back to my mum’s and I was stopping at the shops on my way home. I set off from my boyfriend’s at about 10.30am. It was about half an hour.
“There was a man standing in the window naked from the waist down. It was like a terraced house with bay windows. I know that they are flats. He was in the left window.
“He was standing with the blinds wide open. He had a big blue T-shirt on.” She was “100 per cent certain” that Taylor was naked from the waist down and had bare legs.
“I could see that someone was looking at me,” she said. “I was directly in front of him. I hurried along as quickly as I could. I was on the path and he was in the window.
“I instantly looked away with shock and then I looked back and he was still looking at me. I tried to go as fast as I could. I was worried that he was going to start following me.
“I thought: ‘What have I just seen?’ I felt that I had got away from the situation. I saw him using both hands. I was in complete shock.
“I didn’t know what to do. I was just in shock. I called my boyfriend and he agreed with me that I should inform the police.
“I took his address down. The blinds were shut when I returned. I didn’t see the man. I called my mum just to let her know what was going on.”
Defence barrister Verity Barnes claimed that the young woman had only a “fleeting glimpse” of the man for “an extremely brief period of time” and she was “mistaken” about him being half-naked because he had boxer shorts on, but they were concealed under his T-shirt. “He was just looking out of his window,” claimed Miss Barnes.
Taylor claimed that he was expecting a delivery that day and that he was behind a pillar. He denied exposing himself.
The jury was told that Taylor had a previous conviction for exposure in similar circumstances from an incident on October 12, 2022. In March last year, he had been given 25 days’ rehabilitation.
That offence happened when, in the early evening, a woman was walking along Anlaby Road on her way to Hull Fair. She was with her mother and sister when she saw a naked man in an upstairs window.
He exposed himself and began to commit a sex act. She was later able to give a full description of him because there was nothing obstructing her view of the window and he could be clearly seen.
She later positively identified Taylor. The woman’s sister also saw him. She had heard her sister say: “Oh, my god” and she also looked up at the window. Taylor promptly closed the blinds of the window.
During the trial for the latest offence, Taylor claimed that he was innocent of the previous matter and that he pleaded guilty only because of pressure from his then barrister. But Miss Rapin said that this was a “charade” and “nonsense” that was “completely at odds” with the truth.
The two offences were “strikingly similar”. Miss Barnes claimed, however: “Coincidences do happen.”
Judge John Thackray KC said after the jury verdict: “These offences are serious.” They could be “distressing and upsetting” and could lead to more serious offences, although this was not suggested in Taylor’s case.
Judge Thackray told Taylor: “It’s quite obvious that you are in complete denial, not only about this offence but your past offending. You represent a real danger to females, a danger to cause serious harm.
“The offence causes serious harm to women and the effect on the victim was profound and it was pretty devastating for her to have to relive it in court.”
During the hearing in March last year for the previous exposure offence, the court was told that Taylor told police: “The one in the window – yeah, yeah, it was a genuine mistake.” He said that he hung his washing on a washing line that ran from one wall to another and across the bay window in his living room, which faced onto Anlaby Road.
He claimed that his clothes dryer was also positioned in the window and that he would have been getting dressed at the time. He claimed that he would have been naked but that he did not do what was alleged to have been done.
He said that he would have just got out of the shower and gone to the clothes airer to get some clothes to put on. Taylor claimed that he saw a person looking at him but then he ran away from the window and closed the blinds.
He claimed that he thought that it would have been dark at the time but that he had his heater on, which lit up the room. He claimed that, if he had been at work, he would have just got back home at the time and had a shower but, if he had not started his job at that time, he would have just got out of bed and had a shower.
He claimed that he was often gaming until 5 or 6am each day before sleeping and getting up at about 4.30pm.
Taylor had two cautions, one for harassment in 2021, involving a female private sector tenancy officer and sending her inappropriate messages. The court was told at the hearing in March last year that Taylor originally wanted to vacate his previous guilty plea to the earlier exposure offence but, in the end, this did not happen. The previous case had originally been listed for trial.
Taylor had been on bail during the trial but was remanded in custody to await sentence.