A driver stopped to give a woman a lift - then exposed himself after asking: "Do you want to touch something comfortable?"

The victim demanded she be let out of the car at Barming, only to find Aaron Taylor on his knees offering her £300.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how the 33-year-old then followed the frightened woman before snatching her phone as she called police.

Bizarrely Taylor, of Brooklands Road, Larkfield then claimed that she had stolen his phone during the one-minute long journey.

But now he has avoided an immediate jail sentence after a judge heard he is a man "who struggles with his intellect... and struggles with life."

Prosecutor Afolake Jaja said the woman was walking home from a nightclub last summer.

Taylor stopped nearby and offered her a lift to Barming and she asked him: "Are you a taxi" and "Are you a paedophile?"

Ms Jaja said Taylor assured her he was neither and she got into the front passenger seat but then Taylor repeatedly asked: "Do you want to touch something comfortable?"

It was then the woman noticed he had undone his flies and was exposing his manhood and she told him: "No thanks" and demanded to be let out.

The prosecutor said as she got out, Taylor told her: "I will pay you."

The victim then hid until she thought Taylor's car had gone but then realised he had stopped and when she saw him, he got out and walked towards her, the court heard.

Ms Jaja added Taylor then began claiming his phone had been stolen and tugged at her jacket and took the woman's phone.

The police then arrived and he returned the phone to his victim.

Taylor admitted exposure and theft and received a six-month community order, was ordered to attend counselling for his problems and pay £500 in court costs.

John Fitzgerald, defending, told the judge: "He is a man who struggles with intelligence, his intellect... and someone who struggles with life."

He added that although the incident in the car was "unpleasant it was brief." and Taylor was described by work friends as "quiet and friendly."

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