A drunk dad exposed his genitals and urinated in font of two young boys inside a busy shopping centre.
Michael Cooper had been to a 50th birthday party before he decided to relieve himself outside John Lewis, on the ground floor of Eldon Square, in Newcastle city centre. A court heard that two disgusted teenage boys, thought to be between 13 and 15, spotted what the 54-year-old was doing and reported him to a nearby security guard.
Cooper, of Woolsington Gardens, in Woolsington, Newcastle, was interrupted, later arrested and appeared before magistrates in the city to plead guilty to one count of outraging public decency. He was fined £300 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £120 victim surcharge.
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Marc Atkins, prosecuting, said CCTV captured Cooper walking into Eldon Square on the evening of August 30 this year. Mr Atkins continued: "The defendant exposed his penis in Eldon Square. It was 7.45pm. He was also urinating against a wall outside of John Lewis. As you can imagine, there was CCTV."
As the footage was played to the court, Mr Atkins added: "Two lads appear to see the defendant and they turn around and go to a security officer and inform him of what they saw. They are between 13 and 15 years old. The defendant is arrested at the bus station in Eldon Square."
The court heard that dad-of-two Cooper, who has 19 offences on his record, had been at a 50th birthday party earlier in the evening and was extremely intoxicated. Kash Khan, defending, said: "To say this man is deeply upset at his behaviour would really undermine what he says - he's absolutely devastated and very remorseful.
"He had been at a 50th birthday party. He left the party and, I can only think because of the cool air, behaved in the way that he did. He went to the bus station and had the urge to urinate. He thought he had gone to a secluded area and tried to conceal himself as best he could. Clearly, he didn't do a very good job."
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