CCTV appeal and reported incident
The report concerns an incident on Knuck Knowles Drive at about 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 11. Police said a man exposed himself to a woman before performing a sex act on himself.
Officers want to speak with the man pictured in the CCTV image. Although the image is poor quality, Lancashire Police said it is the only one they have available to share and that his clothing might help someone identify him. He may have facial hair.
Police are asking anyone who can identify the man, witnessed what happened or has other information to call 101, quoting log 1369 of October 11.
The offense and sentencing guidelines
Section 66 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 covers indecent exposure in England and Wales. It makes intentionally exposing the genitals an offense when the person intends someone to see them and experience alarm or distress. The offense can be tried either summarily or on indictment: the maximum sentence is six months in prison and/or a fine on summary conviction, or two years in prison on conviction on indictment.
The Sentencing Council identifies "offender masturbated" and "victim followed/pursued" as factors indicating raised harm in exposure cases. Under its guideline, the most serious category combines raised harm with raised culpability. That category has a starting point of 26 weeks in custody, with a sentencing range of 12 weeks to one year.
Recorded offenses in England and Wales
Ministry of Justice figures show that recorded cases of indecent exposure and voyeurism nearly doubled over a decade in England and Wales. There were 6,420 cases in the year ending March 2013, compared with 12,933 in the year ending March 2023.
For sexual offenses overall, the Office for National Statistics reported 209,079 police-recorded offenses in England and Wales in the year ending March 2025. That was 20,435 more than the previous year, an increase of 11%.
The ONS attributed more than half of that increase to two new offenses introduced by the Online Safety Act 2023. It also cautioned that police-recorded figures are not a reliable measure of underlying trends.
