A 24-YEAR-OLD man exposed himself to two young girls as they walked in a Clitheroe street.

A court heard how ‘sexually frustrated’ Ashley Mart was laughing while he performed a sex act in front of the 10 and 11 year olds in Salthill Road.

The judge was also told how the following day, the defendant, of Whitewell Road, Dunsop Bridge, beckoned a woman to walk towards him in Lincoln Way before exposing himself again.

She took a photograph of his van and he was arrested soon after, prosecutors said.

Mart’s own barrister told the court his client’s behaviour was “very odd and disturbing”.

The defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity in front of a child and another of indecent exposure.

Judge Heather Lloyd, sitting at Preston Crown Court, sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment suspended for two years.

She told him he must work with probation officers to prevent him from committing another sexual offence again.

The judge told Mart: “Although no-one was hurt, it is of grave concern to me that you had the sexual urge to behave the way you did.

“You did it for sexual excitement and regardless of the effect upon those children and that lady, all of them were frightened.

“You must be sexually attracted to young girls to do this.

“There must be concerns that you will vent your frustrations somewhere else. This deviant behaviour may escalate.”

Defending, Richard Prew said: “We are dealing with a young man of 24 who has shown no propensity for offences of this nature before and to his utmost credit, he pleaded guilty , providing instructions to me that he really did not want to put the victims of his crimes through any greater distress than they had already suffered at his hands.

“It was very odd and disturbing behaviour exhibited by the defendant.”