January 2014

Sex offender who flashed 16-year-old girl on train spared jail

A MAN with a history of sexual offences dating back nearly 30 years has been spared jail for flashing a 16-year-old girl.

Mark Ferguson, 48, exposed himself to the teenager on a train at West Croydon station on October 22 last year.

Yet despite having 15 similar convictions dating back to 1986, and being subject to a life-long ban on exposing himself, he was handed a suspended sentence at Croydon Crown Court today (Friday).

A court had previously heard how Ferguson, of Edmeston Road, Hackney, deliberately “targeted” the teenager, asking where the Victoria-bound train was headed before exposing himself while rubbing his thighs.

He pleaded guilty to exposure and breaching a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) on December 6.

Judge Warwick McKinnon, the Recorder of Croydon, read out a list of the American national’s previous offences, which began 28 years ago in the US.

He was convicted five times for indecency and exposure between 1986 and 1989, for which he received sentences of between 30 and 90 days in prison.

He did not reoffend until 1992 when he was jailed for 108 days for indecency, an offence he committed again in 1995 when he was sentenced to 60 days.

Ferguson was convicted three more times for the same crime between 2001 and 2003 before moving to the UK.

He has been convicted five times since then, including disorderly behaviour in 2006 and then indecent exposure in 2008, for which he was jailed and given a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) for life.

His last conviction before this week was for playing a pornographic message down a phone in 2009.

The court was told that he exposed himself to the 16-year-old just weeks after starting therapy to prevent such behaviour.

Judge McKinnon said it was clear Ferguson had been unable to stop committing “disgusting and extremely frightening offences”.

After his arrest, Ferguson gave a prepared statement to the police. He confessed and said he was “thoroughly ashamed and embarrassed”.

Mark Dakin, defending, said his client had been at a “pretty low ebb” at the time because his mother, who suffers from dementia, had been admitted to hospital. He also felt “isolated” because she, like the rest of his family, live in the US.

Ferguson had been the manager of Cash Generator, in Croydon High Street, but lost his job when they learned of his arrest.

The maximum punishment for breaching a SOPO is five years, but Judge McKinnon said an immediate custodial sentence would not be “constructive”.

Addressing Ferguson, he said: “You have a large number of previous convictions for offences of exposure and indecency.

“What happened on this occasion must have been a frightening and distressing thing for this 16-year-old girl to experience. It was disgusting and inherently intimidating, and is a serious matter.

“I could send you to prison, but it would achieve little except to punish you and put you out of circulation for that period of time. That may not be a particularly constructive sentence.

“So I will hand you a suspended sentence. This really is your very last chance. This behaviour must stop.

“If you breach the order again, let me be absolutely clear, you will go to prison.”

Ferguson was given 12 months for indecent exposure and four months concurrently for breaching the SOPO, both suspended for 18 months.

He was given a supervision order of 18 months and ordered to attend a sexual offences treatment program.