Shrewsbury cross dresser seen bouncing on bed in lingerie carried out sex acts

Luke Proctor, 33, was found guilty of three counts of outraging public decency following trial at Telford Magistrates Court in October last year after being seen carrying out indecent acts on multiple occasions through his bedroom window.

He was clearly visible to neighbours and passers-by at his former home on the outskirts of Shrewsbury. Two of the incidents happened at the beginning of May last year and another on an unspecified date in early 2019.

Proctor appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court to try to get his conviction overturned. He claimed that he didn't do cross dressing for sexual gratification, and that he tried hard to keep it a secret since he began at the age of around 11 or 12.

A witness previously told the court how she saw Proctor "trampolining" on his bed in women's underwear, carrying out an indecent act alone. His explanation was that he sometimes put in his ear buds and danced to music while wearing ladies lingerie, and forgot to shut the curtains this time. When asked by his defence advocate Rob Edwards whether he did it for sexual kicks, Proctor said no, and that it was more "a form of self expression".

On another occasion, when Proctor was seen in nothing but grey boxer shorts appearing to be carrying out a sex act, he insisted that he was just fixing curtains that had partially come off the rail. Proctor said his usual routine would be to get up early on a weekend, go downstairs to have a coffee and read the news, check to make sure his mother and sister were not up, before going back to his room and indulging his passion.

He told the court that he went to great lengths to hide his cross dressing, and that revealing his secret in open court felt like he was "living a nightmare."

But prosecutor Rupert Jones questioned why he would make such a simple error as leaving the curtains open, and insisted Proctor "wanted to be seen".

When police attended his house to arrest him, they seized some of the women's underwear he owned. Proctor also told officers to "wear gloves" when they raided a secret draw where he kept a stash of kinky items.

Judge Anthony Lowe and the two magistrates who sat in on the hearing did not buy Proctor's version of events. He said: "He accepts wearing women's underwear and bouncing up and down on the bed. That in itself isn't a crime, and thankfully we live in more enlightened times.

"The evidence he gave did give rise to some doubts. He was at pains to say what great lengths he went to in keeping his secret. It is almost inconceivable that he would not close the curtains."

Proctor's appeal was dismissed, but Judge Lowe downgraded his sentence of six months imprisonment suspended for 24 months to a two-year community order. Proctor, whose address was given as Hollinswood Court, Stafford Park, Telford, will also have to do 200 hours unpaid work, 25 rehabilitation activity days and pay £225 court costs. He was also given a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting one of the witnesses.