A pervert who flashed at a shop assistant in a fashion store while trying on clothes in a changing room has been spared jail.

Hasan Eren was sentenced to a community order with 150 hours' unpaid work. His name will appear on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 19-year-old victim was working in dimly-lit Hollister at Bluewater in October last year.

Eren was trying on a pair of trousers and a t-shirt when the shop worker noticed the cubicle door was open by about 30cm.

She thought he was going to ask her for assistance, but he started to remove the t-shirt.

She turned her back to a customer and then remarked to a colleague that Eren was undressing with the door open. She then saw him in just his boxer shorts.

The teenager, who cannot be identified, told another staff member.

"The man did not have any underwear on by then," she said while giving evidence from behind curtains shielding her from the dock.

"At first he was just standing there. He made eye contact with me and I was completely freaked out by that.

"I could see he had nothing on and his hands were holding himself."

Eren, she said, seemed to be aroused and she believed he was "going to start playing with himself" while staring at her.

"I burst into tears straight away and ran out of the fitting room to find my nearest manager," she added.

Eren made a purchase before leaving the store.

The 32-year-old, of Winchester Close, Waltham Abbey in Essex, denied exposure, but was convicted by a jury of seven women and five men.

He told police he had opened the door to ask for help, but then changed his mind and forgot to close the door. He claimed he had not removed his underwear.

Hasan Eren exposed himself in a store at Bluewater

Alphege Bell, defending, submitted Eren was merely trying on clothes in the cubicle and was oblivious to what was going on outside.

"He is in the privacy of his own cubicle," he said in his final speech to the jury. "It is a dark cubicle. It may be someone outside may think he is looking at them or staring at them, when he isn’t.

"You can see how it is possible for there to be a misunderstanding. If he is taking down his trousers and exposing more flesh than she wanted to see, one can understand how misunderstandings and confusion could occur."

Judge Charles Macdonald QC said the offence was not so serious that it could not be dealt with by a fine or community order.