This is the moment a couple were caught having sex beside a busy road... just moments before they were interrupted by the police.

Laura Knowles appeared in court this week after officers broke up the 30-minute session on a grassy verge near Asda in Hulme.

A shocked passerby dialled police and took a photograph of 33-year-old Knowles, who had a man on top of her.

The image was later handed to officers and used to prosecute her for outraging public decency.

Knowles, of Darwell Avenue in Eccles, admitted the offence and was handed a curfew, banning her from leaving the home between 7pm and 7am for the next two months. She was also ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £180 court charge.

Her co-accused, Kaspars Rimsa, 30, of Denmark Road, south of Manchester city centre, was also charged with outraging public decency.

He failed to appear in court for the hearing on September 9 and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Read:

Police were called to Greenheys Lane West, close to the Princess Parkway in Hulme, at around 3pm on Wednesday, June 10.

A witness told police a couple had been having sex for about 30 minutes.

When officers arrived, they helped naked Knowles dress before arresting her and her partner, Manchester magistrates’ court heard.

The photograph of Knowles with a man on top of her was shown to the magistrates.

Prosecutor Matthew Siddall told the court the couple were caught in the act on a ‘grass section’ just a few yards from Greenheys Lane West, close to the large Asda and two flat blocks.

Liz Ridgeway, defending, said her client was ‘absolutely mortified’ and it was ‘a one-off’.