St Leonards man David Lefranc, convicted of 13 counts of outraging public decency and one count of voyeurism, has been sentenced at court.

Lefranc, 30, a civil servant, of Teal Court, St Leonards, pleaded guilty to all 14 offences when he appeared before magistrates on May 17th.

He had been arrested by police investigating reports of a man masturbating in a car parked on Hoads Wood Road on January 4th. The same vehicle was linked to a second report of a man acting indecently in a vehicle in Southwater Road on February 17th.

On arrest, officers examined his phone and found multiple videos of Lefranc masturbating in his vehicle while it was parked in public places. This translated to 13 separate charges of outraging public decency. Another video of a woman getting dressed inside a property was also found and he was further arrested on suspicion of voyeurism.

Appearing at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday (June 24th), Lefranc was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for each charge of outraging public decency, to run concurrently. He was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for the voyeurism offence, to run consecutively.

His sentence was reduced to reflect his early guilty plea, giving a total sentence of 14 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 24 months.

He was ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation to his victim, carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and complete rehabilitation activity.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order has been put in place for ten years, and he will be named on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years.

Police continue to take reports of this nature very seriously, and thank those involved in the case for coming forward to report the incidents and support the investigation.