(Image: British Transport Police)
A sex offender has returned to prison after exposing himself to commuters at Newcastle Central Rail Station.
Paul Southern, 47, of no fixed address, was jailed for four months at Newcastle Crown Court earlier this month after a British Transport Police investigation.
He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for a further seven years.
Southern admitted charges of exposure and failing to comply with his sex-offender notification requirements at an earlier hearing.
Sex offender Paul Southern locked up again after exposing himself to commuter at railway station (Image: British Transport Police)
The court heard that he entered the Central Station, sat on a bench and exposed himself this summer, in full view of commuters.
A railway worker spotted Southern and alerted BTP officers.
He was arrested at the station and was taken into custody.
When later questioned he admitted having travelled to the station intending to expose himself.
Southern was released from prison just three weeks earlier after a voyeurism conviction linked to an earlier offence at the same station.
BTP officers caught him hiding in the station’s women’s toilets, and he was jailed for four months for voyeurism, on March 26.
Detective Constable Adil Ahmed, of BTP, said: “Southern clearly hasn’t changed his ways.
"It’s only right that he’s back behind bars.
“On that day he acted with shocking levels of disregard for other commuters in the station, planning his offence in advance and subjecting others to a horrific ordeal for his own gain.
“We take this type of intolerable behaviour extremely seriously.
"We will continue to put offenders like Southern before the courts to face justice.”
Det Con Ahmed said: "If you’ve witnessed or been the victim of a sexual offence on the railway network, I urge you to report it by texting 61016, so we can take action.”