Sign up to the Hull Live newsletter for daily updates and breaking news Sign up here! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A woman cleaning her child's bedroom watched in horror as a scantily-clad pensioner performed a series of bizarre sex acts on the roof of his home.

The resident was about to remove some net curtains at 12.30pm on July 25, when her gaze fell upon Barry Mason, 68, on the flat roof of his house in Estcourt Street, east Hull.

She took out her mobile phone and filmed the pensioner, who was naked by then, for between 20 and 30 minutes. The video formed a key part of the evidence against Mason in court.

Describing what happened before a segment of the footage was played to a shocked Hull Crown Court, prosecutor Phillip Evans said: "She did move the net curtain aside and initially thought that she was observing a woman, because the individual she could see had shoulder-length blonde hair and was wearing lingerie.

Letting it all hang out

(Image: Hull Live)

"After a few minutes, however, the defendant removed what was in fact a wig and his male genitalia could be seen.

"[She] took up her telephone and used it to record what she could see, moving her net curtains aside to achieve that.

"She saw him remove all the clothing he was wearing, place a G-string formerly worn adjacent to his genitals over his head, place a cylindrical object described as a sex toy in [an intimate part of his body]".

Mason performed a sex act "then removed the cylindrical object and placed it in and close to his mouth before wiping the cylindrical object with the g-string, then placed the G-string in his mouth".

In a victim statement, the neighbour said she was "shocked" and concerned "children could have seen the defendant's behaviour, this, she points out, occurring during the school holidays when the children were all at home".

She described Mason's behaviour as "completely unacceptable".

Mason was arrested that afternoon and interviewed.

Mr Evans said: "He said he was a naturist. He accepted that the police had spoken to him two years ago verbally in his home about such behaviour."

He had earlier interrupted Mr Evans's opening of the case, angrily saying: "I'm not a pervert, I'm a naturist." Mason also claimed to have face "constant threats".

'My other way of living'

(Image: Hull Live)

Mr Evans said Mason also told police had "gone up on the roof dressed as Brianna, what the defendant described as 'my other way of living'. He explained that he was bisexual and he put female clothing on when he was in his home".

Mason said he could not see anyone in the windows when he went on the roof and they would have needed "binoculars" to see him. He denied performing a sex act and having a sex toy.

"However, when the footage was played to him he replied 'No comment'," said Mr Evans.

Watch: Criminals locked up in October

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Mason later admitted outraging public decency and breaching a suspended sentence. He had 34 previous offences on his record, including an incident in June last year when he squirted bleach at a bus driver.

He received a suspended sentence at Hull Magistrates' Court for that, which he breached with his latest offence. Read what happened in full here.

Judge Mark Bury called that sentence "remarkable", given the circumstances of the case.

Mr Evans said: "With great respect to the justices, it was a remarkably lenient charge."

"Well, there is that," the judge said.

John Thackray, mitigating, said: "He is a naturist. He was, on the day in question, a negligent naturist, and that is the criminality here. He would say on previous occasions he had washing lines which would have shielded his conduct from the complainant. But that wasn't, unfortunately, available on the day in question."

(Image: Hull Live)

Mr Thackray said Mason's windows had been damaged, and "the police identified the person responsible but chose not to prosecute, and he's been, I think targeted would be the right word, by those who worked on a false premise about this case".

Jailing Mason for four months, Judge Bury told him: "I make it clear, Mr Mason, that you are not being sentenced for your sexual proclivities. If you had done that which [the complainant] saw and reported in the privacy of your own home where nobody could see it you would not have committed an offence.

"But what happened is that it took place in public on your own flat roof. It must have been obvious to you that people could have seen it, and indeed, one person did."

Join our Hull Court News Facebook group We have launched a new Facebook group to bring you all the latest news from Hull's courts. Whether it's Crown Court or Magistrates Court, our group will bring you all the latest updates as criminals are brought to justice. To join our Facebook group, click here.

Follow Hull Live

Our daily newsletter - To get the latest headlines direct to your email inbox every day, click here.

Follow Hull Live on Facebook - Like our Facebook page to get the latest news in your feed and join in the lively discussions in the comments. Click here to give it a like!

Follow us on Twitter - For breaking news and the latest stories, click here to follow Hull Live on Twitter.

Follow us on Instagram - On the Hull Live Instagram page we share gorgeous pictures of our stunning city - and if you tag us in your posts, we could repost your picture on our page! We also put the latest news in our Instagram Stories. Click here to follow Hull Live on Instagram.