by Keith Hunt

A convicted sex offender who flashed at a teenage girl on a bus has been jailed for five months.

But because of time spent in custody, Gurpinder Ghuman is likely to be free within a month.

The 36-year-old married father, who has previous convictions for indecent assault and exposure, boarded a single decker Arriva bus after it left Chatham on January 17.

Jane Scotchmer, prosecuting, said the 19-year-old victim was at the rear and Ghuman deliberately sat opposite her.

“She noticed he seemed to be staring at her,” Mrs Scotchmer told Maidstone Crown Court.

“She felt uncomfortable. He was trying to get her attention.”

The teenager ignored him and looked down at her phone. But she saw that he had exposed himself and was performing a sex act.

“She felt hot and sick and did not know what to do,” said the prosecutor. “She went to tell the bus driver. The driver shouted to him."

Ghuman, of Northcote Road, Strood, protested he had done nothing wrong and said the girl must have been mistaken. He got off the bus.

Police looked at CCTV on the bus and Ghuman was recognised as a registered sex offender.

When arrested, he broke down and admitted exposure. He said he was disgusted with himself and felt suicidal about it. He accepted he needed help.

The victim said in a statement she was angry and shocked that such a thing could happen in broad daylight on a bus.

Mrs Scotchmer said Ghuman was convicted of sexual assault in 1995 and indecent assault in 2004. He was given an extended sentence for exposure in 2006.

Charles Falk, defending, said Ghuman was at a low ebb because he was out of work. He went to India to have therapy over his offending.

Ghuman, he said, had an appalling childhood. A psychiatrist said he believed insight was now being shown into the behaviour.

Judge Philip St John-Stevens said the victim was angry, shocked and scared.

Ghuman will remain on the sex offenders’ register.