A FLASHER who texted a woman and told her to “enjoy the show” before exposing himself from his bedroom window has been spared jail.

Mark Howie, of Collier Street, Johnstone, sent the message to his victim, who can’t be named for legal reasons, while she was in a nearby property.

And when she looked towards Howie’s home, she saw he was facing in her direction with his private parts on display.

Howie denied any wrongdoing and went on trial over the incident at Paisley Sheriff Court earlier this year.

The 41-year-old victim told how she was within a property that looked onto Howie’s home on February 8 when she received a text message.

She said: “I know him socially, through my partner, over the last 20 years. He’s more of an acquaintance.”

The woman told how the text she received read: “Good morning. If you’re near the window, enjoy the show.”

She added: “It was Mark Howie’s number it came from. I looked out the window. I saw Mr Howie smiling and waving to me from his bedroom window. He was wearing nothing. He fully exposed himself to me. He stood at the window with nothing on, waving to me and smiling.

“I saw everything – from the head down to just about his knees. He was pointing down below, to his private area.

“I felt numb because I thought Mark Howie was a lovely man, from my memory, and I was shocked.”

The victim said she sent a text to Howie after he had exposed himself to her.

It read: “Take this number out your phone. Don’t text me again.”

The court heard that Howie replied: “I’m sorry. I thought you would like it. Please forgive me.”

Howie was convicted of exposing his genitals to the woman in a sexual manner and sentence was deferred for background reports.

When he returned to court on Friday to learn his fate, it was stated that social workers had concluded he would not be suitable for a Community Payback Order (CPO), due to the fact he was accused of breaching one imposed in a previous case.

After hearing that Howie denied breaching the previous CPO, Sheriff Tom McCartney spared him prison, saying he would not have been able to jail him for long enough.

The judge added: “What I am dealing with is the offence that occurred on February 8, 2019.

It is made more serious by the fact you were subject to a Community Payback Order at the time.”

Sheriff McC|artney said that, as Howie had not previously served a prison sentence, he could only jail him if he considered there was no other “appropriate” punishment.

With the maximum available prison sentence being 12 months, Sheriff McCartney said he had to take the length of any jail term into account and opted to place Howie on a CPO.

He gave him nine months to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work for the benefit of the community.

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