EX-IRAQ PRISONER JAILED FOR BUS INDECENCY
A pensioner who gained media attention over 25 years ago when he was held captive in Iraq has now been sentenced for exposing himself on a bus.Michael Wainwright, aged 67, from Rastrick, was originally sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1992 after being caught cycling across the Iraqi border.
He was released in December 1993 alongside other Britons.
Wainwright, who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, has a history of similar offences.
In 2011, he was given a community order after admitting offences of exposure and sexual assault in Elland.
Further, in 2012 and 2016, he was dealt with for outraging public decency and exposure in bus shelters.
Recently, in March this year, he was travelling on a crowded bus from Brighouse to Rastrick when a woman passenger saw him exposing his penis and performing a sex act.
The woman informed the driver, who told Wainwright to stay in his seat, and she contacted the police.
Wainwright denied the offence initially but pleaded guilty at a magistrates court hearing.
He had also breached a sexual offences prevention order by traveling to Malta and Gibraltar without informing his protection officer.
His lawyer claimed that during his imprisonment in Iraq, he endured torture, including attempts at castration, and urged the court to consider a sentence involving rehabilitation.
The judge, Jonathan Durham Hall QC, acknowledged that the bus was full of members of the public, including children, and stated that Wainwright was unable to control himself.
He sentenced Wainwright to six months for the exposure and an additional six months for breaching the sexual offences prevention order, to run consecutively.
