Man who exposed himself in Sheffield street spared jail

A Sheffield man was spared jailed for exposing himself to urinate outside a mother and daughter’s house - amid claims by the women that he had, in fact, been committing a sex act for two hours.

Haydn Liles, aged 33, of Crossland Place, Gleadless Townend, was caught on camera stood under a streetlamp and exposing himself outside the home shared by the women in August 2023. It was the second night in a row he had reportedly done this, Sheffield Magistrates’ Court heard.

At his sentencing hearing on April 12, the bench heard that Liles had reportedly been committing lewd acts where the two women could see him on-and-off for five years.

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Prosecutor Matt Hague said: “The daughter said visibility of what he was doing was quite good because he was stood under a streetlamp. A similar incident happened the day before.

“The defendant has been carrying out such acts for around five years, but more recently outside their home.

“He was there for around two and a half hours. He appeared to cover himself whenever people walked by, but when they were gone would lower his trousers again.”

One of the women wrote in her victim impact statement: “I’m wary of leaving my house at certain times. I shouldn’t have to close my curtains in case he’s watching me.”

Liles was arrested and charged with two counts of acts of outraging public decency. He initially pleaded not guilty but later admitted it.

However, Liles was sentenced after pleading guilty on the basis he was not “at any time” committing a sex act during his two-hour stint outside the home - but instead had been outside smoking cannabis, and would have only exposed himself to urinate.

His solicitor, Mr Hague, said: “What Mr Liles simply says is that he was urinating.

“He lives with his mother, who has a no-tolerance policy against smoking cannabis in her house, so he was smoking outside.

“He accepts the charge that exposing (himself) was an act of outraging public decency. And he accepts that members of the public would be outraged by his behaviour.”

But he stressed that Liles had said “at no point” was he committing a sex act.

“And, whether sexual gratification was a factor does not matter for the charge of ‘act of outraging public decency’... As far as the charges go, that does not matter,” the solicitor added.

“He also wishes to offer his apology to the court and the complainants.”

Mr Hague also said there have been no similar incidents since Liles’ arrest in August 2023.

Prosecutor Mr Hughes rose again to say court papers showed both charges were for Liles’ committing a sex act and appealed that the bench “must sentence him on that.”

Mr Hague repeated it “did not matter” as far as the charges went.

Magistrate Zaidah Ahmed accepted this and sentenced Liles to 240 hours unpaid work and 26 days of rehabilitation requirements. He must also pay £514 in court costs.