Three-month suspended sentence for outraging public decency

A Limavady man who stood masturbating in his “fully illuminated” living room, in full view of his neighbours, was handed a suspended jail sentence on Tuesday.

Although Judge Roseanne McCormick KC imposed a three-month prison sentence on Ryan Burton at Antrim Crown Court, she said given the 39-year-old is already on probation she was suspending it for three years because to jail him “in the long run would be adverse to the public”.

She warned Burton, however, if he committed any further offences, “that sentence will be taken out of a cupboard and put back on the table”.

At an earlier hearing Burton, from Drumaconey Heights in the Co Derry town, pleaded guilty to outraging public decency on October 15th, 2021, in that he “committed an act of a lewd, obscene and disgusting nature and outraging public decency by exposing your penis and masturbating”.

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Prosecuting counsel Michael Chambers told the court how the couple living opposite Burton contacted police at 9.45pm that evening when they saw him “standing in his fully lit living room, openly masturbating, in full view of the street. The couple had a young child in the house and they were concerned about this sexual behaviour.”

The barrister added that when police officers arrived at Burton’s home, they noted that the room was fully illuminated with the curtains wide open to such an extent the room “could easily be viewed from the street”.

After the defendant was arrested and interviewed, his solicitor gave police a statement where he admitted masturbating but claimed he didn’t realise the curtains were open.

Defence counsel Stephen Mooney said while Burton’s actions have been distressing for the couple to see, “there’s no suggestion of any harm other than what one would expect”, adding that there was no deliberate targeting of anyone and that Burton has “intellectual shortcomings”.

He submitted that with a community service order, a suspended sentence and a sexual offences prevention order in place for two other offences committed after this incident, that the judge could deal with the case in such a way as to allow those protective measures to run their course.

The judge agreed and, in addition to the suspended sentence, ordered Burton to sign the police sex offenders register for seven years.