Flasher found with machete in boot avoids jail after exposing himself at Harrogate petrol station

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James Bryant, 38, parked up at a Harrogate filling station and waited until the last car had left the forecourt before walking into the shop and revealing all to the horrified woman, York Crown Court heard.

CCTV footage showed Bryant “smiling” during the incident, said prosecutor Rob Stephenson.

The terrified woman called police who pinned the crime on Bryant about a fortnight later and found a machete, hunting knife and a lock knife inside his boot during a search of his vehicle.

The court heard that Bryant, a heavy cannabis user who had fallen on hard times, had effectively been living out of his car after losing a small fortune in crypto currency and failing to land a job after moving from Cambridge to Harrogate.

Mr Stephenson said the seedy incident at the petrol station occurred just before 7pm on February 27 last year, when Bryant waited “for about one minute” for the forecourt to clear before homing in on the lone female shopworker.

The incident lasted about half a minute as the shocked and “distressed” victim told Bryant to get out.

“The defendant can be seen briefly smiling at (the named victim) before walking out and driving away,” said Mr Stephenson.

Police enquiries revealed that Bryant had driven into another filling station just before the incident but left immediately because it was busy with customers.

They identified Bryant from CCTV footage and he was arrested about two weeks after the incident when an officer spotted his vehicle in Harrogate.

During a search of his car, police found the three knives in the boot surrounded by a cornucopia of household items belonging to Bryant.

He said he had been driving around with the knives inside his car since moving home two months previously.

The victim said she was “afraid for her life” and initially frightened to return to work.

“She now locks the shop door in the evening and only allows people in if she feels confident in her safety,” added Mr Stephenson.

Bryant, of Sunny Bank, Shaw Mills, ultimately admitted outraging public decency and possessing the knives. He appeared for sentence on Monday.

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The court heard that Bryant had a previous conviction for flashing from 2016 when he was convicted of indecent exposure at Bournemouth Crown Court. He had one other conviction for cannabis possession.

Aisha Wadoodi, for Bryant, said her troubled client hadn’t been given proper rehabilitation following his last conviction.

She said that Bryant had mental-health problems largely “of his own making” due to his “heavy use” of cannabis and “itinerant” lifestyle.

“He moved from Cambridge to Harrogate and thought there (would be) employment (but) there wasn’t,” she added.

She said character references from family members “spoke of a completely different side to him” and that Bryant had suffered a “series of misfortunes” in his life - including the loss of more than £50,000 in crypto currency - which had “triggered” his behaviour. He was now claiming Universal Credit.

Judge Sean Morris described the incident and Bryant’s life circumstances as an “odd business”.

“That lady must have been distraught,” he added.

He told Bryant: “You clearly have a problem and it’s a major problem. It’s probably self-induced from the use of cannabis, which people do not realise can trigger major problems very easily, and the sooner people realise that this isn’t a pleasant little recreational drug, the better.”

Bryant was given a nine-month prison sentence, but this was suspended for two years so he could get the help he needed for his mental-health problems.

The judge also accepted there were no “sinister” motives behind the machete discovered in Bryant’s car, where he kept “all his worldly possessions”.

Bryant was also ordered to complete a 40-day rehabilitation programme and a 90-day sex-offending prevention course.

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Mr Morris, the Recorder of York, warned him:” “You are going to have to confront your demons.”