May 2023

Pervert performed sex acts in front of children during bus journeys

A man performed sex acts in front of strangers – including children.

Robert Jones, of Maes Y Dre in Denbigh, performed sex acts in front of children on buses, while also targeting a dog walker, woman out with her baby and a daughter at her mum’s grave.

Jones was escorted out of court by security guards after interrupting the judge as she jailed him for three years.

Judge Nicola Saffman told Jones to “shut up and listen” as she sentenced him for outraging public decency, exposure and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

His barrister could be seen gesturing for him to remain quiet as he repeatedly shouted words to the effect of “not true Your Honour” as the judge summarised the case.

Prosecutor Brian Treadwell told the court how the now 53-year-old man first targeted a 15-year-old girl who was riding on a bus back in January 2018.

Jones sat next to the schoolgirl after touching her shoulder and is said to have told the youth he “liked girls in school uniform”. The court heard how, during this one-way conversation, Jones had his hands “down his pants” and was “playing with himself”.

The girl quickly moved seats when realising what Jones was doing, but he followed her along the bus, only leaving her alone when he told her he had “finished”.

Through a victim impact statement, the girl said her concentration levels were all over the place when she should have been focussing on her GCSE exams.

She went on to add that she wonders to this day why he chose to target her. Jones then performed a sex act while looking at an adult magazine in the presence of a 14-year-old schoolboy in June 2022.

He was sat on the upper deck of the bus at roughly 7am when the incident happened, the court heard. In August 2022, Jones exposed himself to a woman who was walking along the high street in Denbigh with her baby.

The mum described the defendant as getting “awkwardly close” to them before flashing them and “trying to maintain eye contact”. Also in August, the 53-year-old flashed a dogwalker after he had stopped her and struck up a conversation about her pet.

Earlier this year, in April, Jones targeted a lone woman who was at her mother’s graveside. Mr Treadwell said that he approached the woman with his hands in his pockets and appeared to be performing a sex act on himself, causing her to run away.

When arrested and interviewed by police, Jones made “frank denials” about what he had done. He went as far as to accuse the five strangers of “colluding against him”.

As well as being jailed, he was subjected to a sexual harm prevention order, banning him from having contact with children and from returning to the cemetery where his 2023 offence took place.