A MAN caught pleasuring himself to completion on a packed bus has been sent to jail for a year.

The 548 bus from Brighouse to Rastrick was packed and full of people, including school-aged children, when Michael Wainwright, 67, was spotted engaging in a sexual act.

On March 7 this year Wainwright, of Highfield Road, Rastrick, was sitting on the disabled seating at the front of the bus when a fellow passenger saw him looking over in her direction, Bradford Crown Court heard on Tuesday.

As she went to get off the bus she saw that Wainwright had taken part of his anatomy in hand and appeared to have reached the point of no return.

She told the driver and called the police.

Wainwright attempted to get off the bus but was told to sit down by the woman who had stopped him. When police attended, they observed that his trousers were loose and his zip was down.

Interviewed by the police, he denied the offence and said his clothes were kept tight.

But he later pleaded guilty to exposure, and the court heard he had a previous conviction for the same offence, as well as sexual assault on a child under the age of 13, outraging public decency and exposure.

As well as the incident on the bus, he had breached his sexual harm prevention order by travelling out of the country, to Malta and Gibraltar, without telling the authorities.

It was not suggested that he had committed any sexual offences while abroad.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, the Recorder of Bradford, told Wainwright he had “a very serious problem”.

He said: “You cannot stop masturbating to ejaculation in public, indeed that is your preferred method of enjoyment to the disgust of those including the passengers of that bus.”

The court received a lengthy psychological report explaining his "very difficult past".

It included the revelation that Wainwright had been tortured by the Iraqi police after crossing the border from Kurdistan, part of which had involved attempted castration. This led to a feeling of emasculation which, as part of his post-traumatic stress disorder, may help to explain his pattern of offending.

He also had a low IQ and no real family ties, the court heard.

But Judge Durham Hall told him: “I have no alternative but to try and mitigate the risk you pose to the public by sending you to prison.”

He sentenced him to six months imprisonment for exposure and a further six months for breaching the order, to be served consecutively.