Authorities identified the perpetrator, Scott Barton, when two women reported their observations and law enforcement reviewed the bus’s CCTV footage, leading to the identification of 43-year-old Scott Barton from Carlisle.
Scott Barton was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court after previously pleading guilty to a charge of outraging public decency.
The court was informed that two young women entered the bus in the city centre, and shortly thereafter, Barton boarded, occupying the seat directly behind them.
One of the women subsequently described observing Scott Barton stroking himself in the crotch area, at that time over his clothing. She averted her gaze, but when she briefly peered in his direction again, she observed that he had exposed his genitals and seemed sexually aroused.
Scott Barton was continuing to touch himself, the court heard.
Shocked by this, the two women immediately moved seats, doing their best to ignore him. As they left the bus a short time later, they alerted the bus driver to what they had seen before running home and calling the police.
Judith McCullough, for Scott Barton, of McIlmoyle Way, Denton Holme, said he accepted that his behaviour that day was unacceptable but he denied that he was performing a sex act. His shame and regret for what happened were genuine.
The barrister said: “He has cut down his alcohol intake and no longer misuses drugs.”
At work, said Miss McCullough, Scott Barton was a valued member of his team. The barrister added: “This offence was out of character, an isolated incident.”
Judge David Potter noted that Scott Barton had been medicating his ADHD by regularly using alcohol but what he did on the bus had “clearly caused alarm and distress” to the two females who saw him.
Scott Barton did what he did in broad daylight, on public transport. “Clearly, it outraged public decency, and it is, therefore, in my judgment, serious enough to warrant a community penalty,” said the judge.
Judge Potter imposed a three-year community order, with 20 rehabilitation activity days, a 100-day tagged alcohol abstinence monitoring order, and a requirement to complete an accredited sex offender treatment programme.
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