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A pervert caught rubbing against lamp posts while pleasuring himself was spared jail.

Nicholas Ellis, 39, of Lister Drive, Old Swan , also made lewd sexual advances to two boys and a young man while drunk.

Liverpool Crown Court heard he followed a 17-year-old youth along Upper Brassey Street in Birkenhead on April 15 last year.

Louise McCloskey, prosecuting, said Ellis walked behind him whistling and when the boy crossed the road, he did the same.

The victim thought Ellis had disappeared but he had taken a shortcut through an alleyway and suddenly grabbed his arm.

The teenager turned and hit his attacker, demanding to know what he wanted. Ellis replied: “I want to s**g you.”

Ms McCloskey said the boy ran to a nearby house and later picked out Eliis in an identity parade.

Ellis was released on bail and went to Nottingham on April 13 this year.

In the Bulwell area of the city he was seen by a man in his early 20s to walk up to a lamp post and rub himself against it.

He also walked towards him, rubbed against him and spoke to him “in a sexual manner”.

A 15-year-old boy spotted Ellis and tried to walk past, but the pervert grabbed his bottom.

A woman in a car beeped its horn and told him to get inside, while she took a photograph of Ellis to show police. The incidents were also captured on CCTV.

His first victim told the court Ellis’s behaviour was “not right” and he feared the pervert might target someone less able to defend themselves.

Ellis, who has 14 previous convictions for 25 offences including drink driving and fraud, admitted three sexual assaults and exposure.

The hearing was halted when balding Ellis, appearing via video link from HMP Liverpool, suffered a panic attack.

Trevor Parry-Jones, defending, said his client was sorry for upsetting the victims and was addressing his alcoholism.

Judge Steven Everett accepted Ellis had “a difficult life” and was taken into care as a child.

He said the incidents were “very frightening”, adding: “It was bizarre behaviour indeed and it all goes back to alcohol.”

Judge Everett gave him a three-year community order and 60-day rehabilitation course.

He ordered him to attend a sex offenders programme and sign on the Sex Offenders Register for seven years.