A pensioner has been accused of performing a sex act on a bus, despite being banned from using public transport.

David Cook withheld his plea and told the magistrates he wants to remain behind bars when he appeared at court in Maidstone today.

He was charged with outraging public decency and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Prosecutor Barney Nickalls told magistrates a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, got on a Maidstone bus she uses regularly to commute on August 22.

The defendant got on at the same time and sat behind the complainant, and shortly after she heard grunting noises coming from his direction.

Feeling uncomfortable, she moved to another part of the bus, but when she turned around she claims to have seen him with his shorts down and his trainers off, performing a sex act.

She eventually got off the bus due to the alleged ordeal, which is said to have lasted between 30 and 40 minutes. Mr Nickalls said at least two other people, as well as the woman, were in the vicinity of the incident.

The court was told the 68-year-old had an indefinite sexual harm prevention order put in place in 2013, banning him from using public transport without permission.

Appearing via video link, he pleaded guilty to the charge of breaching this order but withheld his plea for the charge of outraging public decency.

Cook, who the court heard had recently been recalled, having previously lived in Macaulay Close, Larkfield, then asked to be remanded in custody ahead of his next hearing at Maidstone Crown Court on November 29.

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