A man 'tried to have sex with a plastic cone' in a railway station lift after a drink and drug binge.

Trevor Smith was found 'thrusting his hips' towards the object by shocked staff at Wigan Northern Western station on April 14.

The 48-year-old from St Helens appeared at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates' Court where two workers said they saw Smith on the floor with his trousers and underpants pulled down, with an upturned cone on his lap.

When police officers arrived, they discovered Smith on top of the cone with his pants still down.

Smith, of Arrivato Plaza, Hall Street, pleaded guilty to outraging public decency during the drunken incident at a previous hearing, the MEN reports.

"Disgusted and shocked"

(Image: MEN)

The court heard that at around 9.30pm, a Virgin Rail worker asked a colleague to join him in the lift up to one of the station platforms.

As they looked through the lift's window, they saw Smith sitting on the floor with the cone on his lap.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, one of the men said he was 'disgusted and shocked' at what he saw.

He added: "I believe he was trying to have sex with the cone.

"I was in complete shock. I have not seen anything like that in all my time working on the railways.

"He was in a location where anyone, including children, could have walked in and seen him and should be ashamed of himself."

His colleague told the court Smith was "clearly" under the influence of drugs and did not appear to be aware of what he was doing.

White powder around his face

(Image: MEN)

While one of the workers contacted British Transport Police, the other tried to stop people from seeing what was happening.

After realising police had arrived and were watching him, Smith pulled up his pants.

Officers approached him and detected remnants of white powder around his face.

A snap-bag of drugs was also found on the lift floor and, as a result, Smith was arrested on suspicion of a drugs offence. No further action was taken on that matter.

He was then de-arrested and allowed to return for voluntary interview the following day.

He told police he had spent the hours leading up to the incident drinking heavily and watching football.

Friends thought that he was getting 'down' so they gave him some white powder, which Smith believed to be cocaine, to perk him up, the court heard.

He told officers he had gone to catch the train home and entered the lift thinking it was a locked room and that was all he could remember, said Tess Kenyon, prosecuting.

Previous sex act convictions

The court heard Smith had two previous convictions for public sex acts.

The first, in 2012, came after a woman saw Smith performing a sex act naked while "on all fours" on the roof of a kitchen in Bickershaw Lane, Wigan.

He received a conditional discharge from magistrates, but was arrested again in 2015 after being found performing an indecent act while covered in a blanket inside a car in Gordon Street.

A three-year community order was imposed by Liverpool Crown Court, which Smith then breached.

The order was revoked and he was handed a three-month prison sentence.

Melissa Fagan, defending, asked magistrates whether they would be sentencing Smith or referring his case to the Crown Court.

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After retiring, the bench decided that, in light of Smith's previous offending, its powers were not sufficient to sentence him and his case was sent to Crown Court.

Smith was remanded on unconditional bail and will be sentenced at Bolton Crown Court on October 24.