A peeping Tom has been banned from going out at night without a fluorescent jacket on. Stephen Cooper, 24, has been ordered to wear the high-visibility clothing so he can be spotted by potential victims. The pervert, who has pleaded guilty to voyeurism, received the order after being caught creeping into a woman's garden and staring through a crack in her curtains. Cooper is awaiting sentence for the offence but in the meantime he has been ordered to don a bright neon coat whenever he ventures out after dark. Cooper admitted the offence which took place on January 11. He was already on the Sex Offenders Register and the offence was the second time he had breached the conditions imposed on him. Judge Peter Dedman made the bizarre ban at Southend Crown Court in Essex after adjourning sentencing while psychiatric reports are drawn up. He said: "I think it is appropriate such an order should be made for the protection of the public in particular women alone, either at home or work or in the street, and also for his own protection to stop him offending. "He has admitted being in someone's garden peering through the crack in the curtains in the hope of seeing something of a nature which would allow hime to reach sexual gratification." The Sex Offenders' Prevention Order was drawn up between Cooper, from South Ockendon, Essex, and the Essex Police public protection team. But some have been outraged by the unusual order, saying it will mark him out as a sex offender. Lesley Bates, a barrister who specialises in sex offence cases, said: "It is very difficult to see how making him wear a fluorescent jacket will prevent further voyeurism. But, perhaps, more seriously, it appears to have failed to consider the potential consequences which are disproportionate to the benefits. "It is tantamount to asking him to walk around wearing a sign saying, 'I'm a sex offender'."
Goosey's Gabbings... This has me a little befuddled. One, because the man was referred to as "the pervert" in this article and that this is not a one-size-fits-all situation. I mean, he has to wear a fluorescent jacket at night because he's a peeping tom? Bates said it correctly that this does nothing other than to make the guy be more creative in how he "peeps"...Plus, what other things are being done for other sex offenders? Rapists have to be escorted everywhere at night? Pedophiles can't be within a mile of anyone under 18, with supervision? Somehow, something here just doesn't feel right...
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