A PENSIONER with a “penchant for nude sunbathing” was caught lying on a grave naked in a churchyard… twice.

Richard Stofer had gone to the Ocklynge church cemetery near Eastbourne during the height of the coronavirus lockdown.

He caused outrage when visitors saw the 76-year-old exposing himself while lying on top of a grave in April and again this month.

Stofer could be Sussex’s most notorious flasher, as he has been jailed for exhibiting himself in the past.

The Argus reported how he was given an Asbo in 2005 and was told not to take his clothes off anywhere in Sussex for five years.

Yet within three years he broke the order when he went into a Tesco petrol station in Eastbourne and urinated behind the kiosk.

Prosecutors have described him as “one of life’s eccentrics”.

The Argus:

But judges and the police would not necessarily agree.

“You imposed your physical self on people who did not want to see it,” a judge once told him. Another judge said his behaviour was “disgusting and unacceptable”.

Read more on this defendant: Serial OAP flasher whipped off thong for cops (from 2012)

The Argus interviewed Stofer in 2009 and he said he loved sunbathing in the nude. It was revealed he had once been caught wearing women’s heart-shaped see-through underwear, with his legs spread wide apart and “making no effort to cover himself”.

On another occasion a neighbour returned home early to find Stofer spread-eagled over their lawn.

He was given the Asbo in 2005, then in 2008 he appeared before Lewes Crown Court for exposing himself.

The Argus:

Judge Cedric Joseph heard that Stofer had relieved himself behind a kiosk at a Tesco petrol station where he used to work.

“You are a pest and a thorough menace,” the judge told him as he jailed Stofer for eight months.

In October 2012, when Stofer was 68, he was given a 12-week suspended sentence for exposing himself to police officers. When approached, he had removed a thong.

Read more on this defendant: Eastbourne flasher is finally jailed (from 2008)

At the time Sussex Police were asked for a comment about Stofer’s activities.

“We are obviously aware of Richard Stofer,” the force said, as he was forced to sign on the sex offenders register.

A year later he appeared in court and was jailed for eight weeks for harassing a neighbour by leaving dog faeces in the garden. It was revealed how he had again exposed himself to police during that incident.

Last month Stofer, now of Bourne Street, Eastbourne, admitted two further counts of outraging public decency at Ocklynge cemetery. He was fined £100 for the two offences and told to complete 20 rehabilitation sessions. He must also pay a £90 surcharge and £85 costs.

You can keep up to date with court reports on our Facebook group here: Sussex crime and court watch