Huddersfield teenager plagued Dalton exposing himself to females but escapes jail


A teenager who sneaked into gardens late at night and performed sex acts in front of female householders, has been spared prison.

Glynn Marsden, 18, from Rydal Drive, Dalton, committed 14 exposure offences between January and September last year.

Leeds Crown Court heard how in one case at Heathergrove Fold, a young woman woke up to find Marsden performing a sex act in the doorway of the room she was sleeping in.

When she woke he told her he had already groped her.

In another, a woman found Marsden banging on the window of her Langdale Drive home at 5am.

She confronted him in her garden and he exposed his genitals and made suggestive remarks.

As she screamed, he attempted to pull down her pyjamas as he backed her against a wall.

The court was told that the woman is still suffering flashbacks from the incident last March and has been prescribed anti-anxiety medicine and counselling.

The majority of Marsden’s offences were in gardens around the Dalton and Moldgreen areas, including Kirkstone Avenue, Standiforth Road, Robsons Drive, Heathergrove Fold and Greenlea Court.

Most were committed late at night or in the early hours, against lone women, including one in front of the victim’s children.

Marsden was also reported to make foul-mouth, lewd and suggestive sexual comments as he invited victims to grope him.

In one offence at Patterdale Drive last March, he was found performing a sex act on the kitchen roof of a home.

In another, he exposed himself to a woman he passed in the street at 10.30am.

Marsden was arrested by Huddersfield police on June 21, 2012, on suspicion of going equipped for burglary after officers found gloves, a mask and a jacket in his bag.

But during his arrest they noticed he matched an e-fit drawing of the exposure suspect.

He was released but then on September 25 the next reported incident of exposure happened at a home on Highroyd Crescent.

The woman occupant was sitting reading in her living room with her two daughters when she saw Marsden staring through the window. He had his trousers down and was performing a sex act on himself.

Marsden was linked to the crime after a sample of his DNA was found on a sofa in the garden of the property.

The woman told officers she recognised Marsden as he had once knocked on her door at 2am and asked for a drink.

The court was told when police went to arrest him he told them they were not looking at his mobile phone.

He ran off and when he was caught his phone was missing and was never recovered.

The teenager initially denied the offences but when he was told there was DNA evidence he admitted the crimes and said he wanted help.

His barrister, Gillian Batts, said: “He doesn’t like what he’s done or the stigma of what he’s become and he’s conscious he needs to address these problems.”

Marsden has been in custody for three months and Ms Batts said his first experience of prison had made him realise how serious the crimes were.

Judge, His Honour Scott Wolstenholme, told Marsden he was a sex offender.

He said: “In almost each case your conduct is aggressive and confrontational with your victims, and your language was repulsive.”

He added: “Your behaviour was escalating in a very alarming way.

“This is just about as bad a case of exposure as it’s possible to imagine.”

Judge Wolstenholme said Marsden “deserved custody” but the maximum sentence he could have imposed was two years for the exposure, plus two for breaching an Asbo and youth rehabilitation order imposed on him for previous offences of violence and disorder.

He said taking into consideration typical sentence discounts and release dates and Marsden’s time on remand, there was little point in locking him up where he could not receive psychological treatment.

He said the “best protection of the public” was a three year community order with supervision and mandatory attendance of a sexual offenders rehabilitation programme.

Marsden is also subject to a curfew from 9pm to 6am for the next six months and is banned from gardens or grounds of any private property without permission.