December 2015

Essex school flasher was convicted sexual predator

The pervert who exposed himself to several children in Bishop’s Stortford is a convicted sexual predator.

Paul King was jailed for two years for his crimes in the town and as a result of a high-speed M11 chase with police in hot pursuit.

It is a second stretch behind bars for the 50-year-old panel beater from the Essex village of Norton Mandeville.

In 2004, a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court found him guilty of three charges of indecent assault on women, plus a count of affray, and he was caged for seven years.

Earlier this month he was sentenced by Judge John Plumstead at St Albans Crown Court to one year and four months in prison for exposure, plus eight months for dangerous driving. He was also banned from driving for two years and must take an extended test before he regains his licence.

The sentencing followed a trial at which King pleaded not guilty to the two charges, but the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts.

He was convicted of exposing himself to a 15-year-old girl in Stortford Hall Park, near Hockerill Anglo-European College and Herts & Essex High School, on June 16 at about 9am.

In a similar incident at lunchtime the same day, a man exposed himself to girls aged eight and nine while they played on the field at Richard Whittington Primary School in Thornbera Gardens.

Police were also made aware of a man acting suspiciously outside St Michael’s CofE Primary, having received a report of unusual behaviour outside Windhill21 Primary the day before.

As a result, police asked parents to be vigilant and upped patrols outside Stortford schools.

King was arrested on June 22 on the M11 at Chigwell after being spotted in Parsonage Lane, near All Saints CofE Primary School, and chased 28 miles by police.

He was arrested in relation to the Stortford Hall Park and Richard Whittington incidents but was not charged by police with the latter offence on the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service.

On June 17, 2004, at Chelmsford Crown Court, he was given concurrent prison sentences of seven, four and one years for indecent assaults on three women aged 16 or over, as well as 30 months for affray.