A PERVERT has been warned he could be jailed for performing a sex act on himself in front of women on trains.

Andrew Simpson's victims felt "repulsed" and "uncomfortable" by what he did, Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court heard.

The 62-year-old, of Albion Place, Thornton, Bradford, closed his eyes, grinned and groaned as he committed an indecent act in front of one woman on a midday train between Burley-in-Wharfedale and Leeds on September 23 last year, the court was told today.

She described Simpson as "sweaty" and "awful" and said she noticed his body was shaking and his belly was wobbling as he was "rubbing his hand fast on top of his jeans".

Simpson's victims were all retired women, or of a more mature age, the court was told.

Warning Simpson that a jail sentence was being considered, magistrates' chairman Philip Turnpenny said: "It is clear that in some of the cases you followed and pursued your victims.

"It is very clear that you masturbated in a public place on the train, and specifically targeted vulnerable victims that were women travelling alone."

The first offence happened on May 8 last year on an Ilkley to Bradford Forster Square service, when Simpson touched himself over his clothing.

The victim - a retired teacher - said Simpson "jiggled his crotch" with his hand in full view of other passengers.

A statement from the victim was read out in court. It included: "I could feel he was looking over at me as if he wanted me to look at him while he was playing with himself."

The same woman was the victim of Simpson again on June 12 last year.

She saw him holding his crotch while stood on the platform at Burley in Wharfedale railway station.

Six days earlier, another woman reported seeing Simpson with his hands down the front of his jeans "doing rhythmic movements" while looking at her on the 4.12pm Ilkley to Leeds train. The court heard that Simpson stared at the woman and gave her a "wide smile".

In a statement read in court, the woman said: "He seemed to be massaging himself in a rhythmic movement. I was alarmed - it spoiled what had been a lovely day for me. It has put me off travelling by train alone."

On September 16, on the 3.03pm Ilkley to Leeds train, another woman said: "He did not expose himself but may have been playing with himself. It made me feel vulnerable."

The court heard that Simpson told police he regularly parked his car at Shipley railway station before buying a Day Rover ticket and travelling various routes because he liked the countryside.

He admitted to officers what he had done and said: "I didn't do it to young girls, just to women my age."

Simpson, who had no previous convictions and apologised to his victims when he appeared in the dock, pleaded guilty to five charges of committing an act of outraging public decency.

He will be sentenced on February 11 after the completion of a pre-sentence report and was ordered not to travel on trains in West Yorkshire until then.

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