SERIAL FLASHER CAUGHT AGGRESSIVELY MASTURBATING AT TODMORDEN STATION AND ON BUS WITH CHILDREN PRESENT
A serial flasher who exposed himself to people on railway platforms and in the street, and who appeared to be masturbating on a bus where schoolchildren were present, has been spared jail.But a judge told 74-year-old Michael Wainwright that whilst he thoroughly deserved to go to prison for his “outrageous behaviour”, a short jail term would not give him the rehabilitative support he needed.
Speaking at Bradford Crown Court, Mr Recorder Ciaran Rankin said: “There are clearly some significant and deep-seated issues in your personality and your mental health, and what has caused that is a mystery to a great deal of people.
“Most recently, Wainwright was seen aggressively masturbating on a platform at Todmorden rail station, an act he repeated five days later at another station.
On the second occasion, he was said to have “his mouth open, with his tongue protruding”.
He was arrested and interviewed for both offences but claimed to have no memory of what he was doing, or why.
He identified himself on CCTV footage and admitted the July 22 offence.
Wainwright, who appeared in court via video link from HMP Leeds, was found guilty after a trial of exposure and outraging public decency in 2024 and pleaded guilty to two counts of exposure in 2025 as well as failing to surrender to court bail.
The court heard that Wainwright had “quite a concerning record” of 14 previous convictions for 33 offences including for sexual assault on a female under 13, committing an act outraging public decency, and multiple offences of exposure.
He is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, imposed in 2021, that runs until October 2031.
In mitigation, Mollie Briggs said Wainwright, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, dementia, and PTSD, had never completed any previous sex offence-related programme.
Recorder Rankin handed Wainwright a three-year community order and said he must complete 50 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
He said the Sexual Harm Prevention Order would remain in place until 2031 and ordered Wainwright to register as a sex offender for the next five years.
He told him: “That is all designed to assist you.
I hope you take advantage of that.”
