November 2013
Pervert admitted flashing at a five-year-old girl in Cheltenham leisure centre
Carpenter Thomas Safe, 32, has been told to expect a 27 months jail term after he admitted flashing at a five-year-old girl in Cheltenham leisure centre
Safe, of Lincoln Avenue, Cheltenham – who has two previous convictions for indecent exposure – had denied the latest allegation until today, when a trial was due to start at Gloucester Crown Court.
The court heard he had turned to flashing after a scooter accident ruined his chance of becoming a professional footrballer.
But with a jury panel waiting, he asked Judge William Hart to give an indication of what sentence he would get if he pleaded guilty.
The judge said the maximum he would impose would be 27 months.
After half an hour’s consideration Safe returned to court and pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child at leisure@Cheltenham on May 22 this year.
Judge Hart remanded him in custody till November 28 for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
Prosecutor Mark Worsley said the five year old girl had been for a swimming lesson with two older sisters but finished first and went to her cubicle.
“She was sitting in the cubicle when the defendant opened the door of his cubicle and dropped his shorts,” Mr Worsley said.
He then appeared to commit a lewd act uponm himself.
Mr Worsley said the girl reported it to her mum and grandmother and police were called.
When Safe was arrested he said the girl was mistaken. He claimed he had been for a spa and sauna session and was in his cubicle drying himself when the door flew open and the girl saw him naked.
Andrew Hobson, defending, said he realised that Safe’s previous convictions aggravated the case.
While in custody for the last six months Safe had accessed rehab measures available to people like him, Mr Hobson said.
Safe had worked productively recently as a self employed carpenter having gone ‘off the rails’ at the age of 16 as a result of alcohol, drugs and a serious scooter accident, he said.
The injuries he suffered in the accident had ruined his prospects of becoming a professional footballer, he added.
If Safe’s trial had gone ahead the jury would have been told of his two previous convictions for engaging in sexual activity in front of children on trains in August and September, 2010.
Judge Hart had given permission at an earlier hearing for those convictions to be revealed to the jury.
Safe was on a train from Birmingham to Bristol when he sat near a woman and her 15-year-old daughter.
He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts and was seen to be pleasuring himself. He was arrested and convicted of the offence.
A month later he was on a train from Worcester when he sat near a mother and her five-year-old daughter.
Again he was seen to be committing a lewd act and he subsequently admitted the offence, saying that he “did it for the thrill of being seen and caught.”
November 2010
Women and children’s shock over man’s lewd actions on train
A serial sex pest cut a hole in his shorts so he could masturbate while staring at women – on busy commuter trains.
Perverted passenger Thomas Safe, 29, sat close to women on mainline services and ”openly” pleasured himself.
One horrified victim – who caught him red-handed – had her five-year-old daughter sitting next to her.
After being arrested Safe told police he had done it because he ”liked the risk of getting caught”.
He was given a three-year community order and put on a sex offenders programme after admitting two counts of exposure and one of sexual activity in the presence of a child.
But Judge Roderick Denyer QC, sitting at Bristol Crown Court, warned him that any more offences would result in a jail term.
He told him: ”The seriousness of these offences are not as such that I have to lock you up.
”I take the view that you don’t pose a serious danger to far as your future is concerned.
”But if you don’t comply with this order you will be in breach and a judge can send you to prison for as long as he or she likes.”
The court hearing on Wednesday (10/11) was told how Safe sidled up close to two females on a train from Birmingham to Cardiff on July 28th this year.
They described him as ”openly masturbating” and reported him to the police.
Just days later on August 1 a woman was travelling to Bristol with her 15-year-old daughter when Safe got on and positioned himself three seats from them.
The shocked woman then saw the man staring intently at her, while sweating and pleasuring himself.
She confronted him – calling him a ”dirty pervert” – and he was arrested by police at Bristol Parkway Station.
Richard Posner, prosecuting, said: ”The woman felt angry and shocked that he was masturbating – she felt she had been targeted.
”His shorts had a hole cut in the front of them and had what appeared to be semen on them.”
But while on bail for the offence, he was again caught carrying out more dirty deeds on a train – this time on a trip to Worcester.
A woman was travelling on the train, on September 12, with her five-year-old daughter when Safe sat close to them and started masturbating.
He was arrested at his home in Cheltenham, Glos., after being identified by rail cops on CCTV.
Safe admitted to the offences, claiming the risk of getting caught made him feel like a different person.
The court also heard he had been convicted in 2001 after being caught masturbating in bushes in Cheltenham on three separate occasions while women were passing by.
Judge Denyer handed Safe, an unemployed carpenter, a 36-month community order and told him to complete the Thames Valley Sex Offenders Treatment Programme.
He was also made to sign the Sex Offenders Register for five years and given a conditional discharge for possession of a small amount of cannabis.
