A MAN who had sex in public in the middle of the day in a community garden popular with children has been given a ten-week nightly curfew by a judge in York.

District judge Adrian Lower said a local father called police after seeing James Keith Richardson having sex with a woman near where his children had just been playing.

Richardson, 35, who sleeps at the Arc Light Centre, pleaded guilty to outraging public decency in South Parade, close to Blossom Street in York, on July 18.

He has previous convictions for violence and other offences, but none for sexual offences.

“This was an entirely improper way for you to behave,” the judge told Richardson.

“The route of your behaviour, not for the first time, was the consumption of alcohol.”

After hearing how Richardson was working with various agencies to try and tackle his alcohol addiction, he decided the best course to prevent him committing a similar offence was to give him a 12-month community order with 20 days’ of rehabilitative activities and a ten-week curfew, from 9pm to 6am, expiring at midnight on December 29.

He also ordered him to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £85 statutory surcharge.

Mark Thompson, for Richardson, said the witness had told police he had seen Richardson and the woman having consensual sex.

In recent months, Richardson had reduced his drinking to three bottles of cider a day.

He had a long-standing addiction to alcohol, but knew he had to conquer it.

The district judge said he had been told the centre was the first step towards Richardson starting a new life away from York.