Half-naked flasher hunted by police after jumping out on woman in Sheffield street

A police hunt is under way for a half-naked flasher who jumped out on a woman in a Sheffield street.
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The flasher was initially spotted crouching behind a bin in Cobden View Road, Crookes, before he jumped out on a woman walking home from a night out.

Concerned residents who witnessed the incident dialled 999 while running out into their street to try to apprehend the man.

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One of the residents, armed with a baseball bat, chased the man, but he managed to flee.

A sketch of a flasher has been produced by a witnessA sketch of a flasher has been produced by a witness
A sketch of a flasher has been produced by a witness

A police investigation into the incident has now been launched.

It is feared that the flasher is the same man who was spotted performing a sex act in public in Cobden View Road in February.

One of the witnesses to the latest incident, at around 12.05am yesterday, said: “We were going to bed and were shutting the curtains in our bedroom when my partner saw a man outside without any trousers on.

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“She saw him crouch behind a wall and there was a bin in front of him so we stood there for a few minutes to see where he was going to go.

“After a while we thought he must have sneaked off without us realising but then we saw a young woman walk past where he was and he jumped out and began trailing her.

“We ran outside, shouting to scare him, and he ran off. He went into an alleyway, came out with his trousers back on and then kept running.”

The witness’ partner called the police in February to report a man performing a sex act in the same alleyway.

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He added: “I ran after him with a baseball bat in my hand fearing that he had been about to rape the woman he was trailing.

“I shouted at him never to come back here again.

“My partner is convinced the man we saw on Tuesday was the same man that she saw back in February and another neighbour said he had seen him in our street before.

“It is worrying to think that he is out there.”

Police spent an hour driving around Crookes with the man who chased the flasher but he had vanished.

One of the witnesses has produced a sketch of the flasher.

He is described as being aged in his 40s, around 6ft tall, slim and is said to have a gaunt face and pale complexion.

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He was wearing square, rimless glasses, dark clothing and a beanie hat.

Sergeant Adam Wood, from the Sheffield Central and North West Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “We understand that incidents like this can be distressing to witness, but I would like to reassure people that we do take them seriously and that an investigation is underway to identify the individual involved.”

Anyone with information should call South Yorkshire Police on 101 and quote incident 6 of December 31.