A PERVERT spied on a woman in a toilet cubicle because he was lonely.

Stewart Ogorman had gone into the women’s loos at Brighton Museum in September last year, where he was lying down on the floor to spy on her.

The 55-year-old also exposed himself twice to a mother who was with her 15-year-old daughter at an exhibition at the Brighton Dome in November.

Strangely

Security staff had spotted him on CCTV acting strangely and looking at women going into the toilets.

But he was caught, and when officers asked him why he had done what he did, he told them “I wanted to feel loved”.

At his sentencing hearing at Brighton Magistrates’ Court, he said that because of facial disfigurement he suffered with low self confidence.

This was made worse following the death of his wife four years ago.

He said it made him him feel lonely and isolated.

Jeremy King, prosecuting, said a woman had gone to the toilet cubicle with a friend, and saw his head in a gap between the floor and door.

She feared he had been taking pictures, and then saw him rushing out when he was spotted.

Meanwhile, the mum with her daughter said she felt “shaken, upset, disturbed, and violated” when Ogorman exposed himself to her.

She said: “It was an intrusion of my personal space.

“It was threatening sexually.

“I don’t want my daughter to feel that this is the normal way for men to behave.”

Jason La Corbiniere, defending, said Ogorman, of Norfolk Square, Brighton, was “not driven by a thrill of exposing himself to someone who was not expecting it”.

He said Ogorman felt “clear shame and remorse” for his actions.

Mr La Corbiniere said: “It was a gross invasion of privacy.

“But his motivation was not to cause alarm and distress.

“When asked by police why he did it, he said he wanted to feel loved.

“He is somebody who is quite lonely and sad, who feels unloved.

“It is no excuse for what he did.

“He felt after his wife died that nobody would consider him because of his facial disfigurement, which he was born with.

“As a result he has suffered low self confidence throughout his life.”

Serious

Magistrate John Paxman said: “These crimes are deemed serious enough for us to make a community order.”

He ordered Ogorman to be excluded from all women’s toilets in Brighton and Hove, and from parks and estates including the Royal Pavilion, for the next two years.

Ogorman is now subject to a notification order.

That means he must tell police details of his whereabouts and other personal details for the next five years.

He was ordered to complete 15 sessions as part of a sex offenders programme.

In addition he must complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

He must also pay £85 costs and a £85 victim surcharge.