A 77-YEAR-OLD man caught performing a lewd sex act on another man at Little Budworth Country Park has been found guilty of outraging public decency.

Married defendant John Steer, of Russell Road, Winsford hid behind shrubbery at the popular beauty spot while carrying out the act, which horrified an elderly dog walker.

Magistrates told Steer, who is now banned from entering the park for five years, anyone - including young children - could have seen him as he cavorted in broad daylight on June 18.

At Vale Royal Magistrates Court on Wednesday the witness, Dorothy Young, told the bench: “I turned a corner and I saw the defendant and another man, who had his trousers around his ankles.

“If someone had been passing they would have seen it as well.”

She told the court she saw other people nearby less than two minutes away from where the incident took place.

After the witness contacted police Steer, who has a previous conviction for indecent exposure, was arrested and interviewed, and admitted the offence.

“I accept what has been seen,” he told the court. “I wasn’t hiding from anybody in particular. There was no one else around, otherwise I wouldn’t have been doing it.”

Will Hurley, defending, claimed his client, who is married, had no case to answer because the area he was in was not public enough to ‘outrage public decency’. But magistrates rejected his plea.

After convicting Steer, chairman of the bench Ken Ashley told him: “There were clearly other people in the locality who could see the incident. The evidence of Mrs Young was clear and concise and she told of other people in the area.

“It is just good fortune only Mrs Young saw the offence.”

In addition to the Sexual Offences Prevention Order banning him from entering the park, Steer was fined a total of £870.