A JUDGE has jailed a serial 'flasher' after he exposed himself to a terrified schoolgirl and followed her down a path.

Bradford Crown Court heard the 15-year-old, who cannot be identified, was frightened that she might be attacked by 28-year-old Ashley Mart during the incident in September.

"She was scared of what he might do as there was no one else around at the time," said prosecutor Robert Stevenson.

The teenager eventually met up with her mum as two other younger schoolgirls turned up saying that they had also seen a man with his trousers round his knees exposing himself in Skipton.

The teenage victim said she had heard a noise coming from the woods off Gargrave Road that afternoon and had seen Mart standing there performing a sex act.

Police officers were called and Mart was found hiding behind a tree.

After his arrest he replied:"What exposure? My grandad has just died. I've been done for exposure before."

The court heard that Mart, of Whitewell Road, Dunsop Bridge, had been jailed twice before for similar offending and at the time of the latest incident he was already undergoing a sex offender treatment programme.

He had also been made the subject of a sexual offences protection order back in 2014 which restricted his contact with under 16s.

Mart pleaded guilty to charges of outraging public decency and breaching his SOPO and the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall, sentenced him to a total of 27 months behind bars.

Defending Mart, Geraldine Kelly, said his guilty pleas had meant the children had not had to be cross examined about their accounts.

She submitted that his grandfather's death had been a trigger for him to undo the good work he had been doing.

"Having been remanded in custody after his arrest he couldn't even attend his own grandfather's funeral - a man he was very close to," said Miss Kelly.

She said Mart had taken steps to 'control his urges' including undergoing hypnotherapy.

Miss Kelly said her client wanted to stop reoffending and was something of a 'pathetic figure'.

In a victim impact statement the oldest schoolgirl described how she no longer felt safe and the offence had taken away quite a lot of her freedom.

Judge Durham Hall highlighted Mart's behaviour was in flagrant breach of the SOPO and a pre-sentence report about him made grim reading.

"You are fully aware of the harm you cause. You are fully aware of the pleasure this activity gives you. You seem unable to control it," the judge told Mart.

The judge the victims were entitled not to have the sight of Mart seared into their young minds and they may have to live with it for years and years.

"Whatever kick you were getting out of it you were effectively abusing and traumatising these youngsters," he added.