Soldier convicted for exposing himself to two woman in Dorchester

Following a trial at Dorchester Crown Court Paul McLeish, a corporal based at Bovington, was convicted of two counts of exposure.

The 27-year-old was accused of exposing himself to the town women on the same evening on July 25 last year.

He had entered not guilty pleas to the charges.

During the trial the jury heard from the two women who claimed they had seen a man exposing himself in a red car.

The first alleged victim said she was walking her dogs in Rothesay Road at around 8.15pm when a man in a red car pulled over and asked her for directions.

She said her eyes were ‘drawn down into his lap’ and she saw the man exposing himself.

The woman called him a ‘sicko’ and walked off.

She added: “I was so incensed by what had happened as I went to walk off I partly stepped into the road and I took a look at the number plate.

“All the way back home I recited the number.”

A short while later that evening another woman said she was walking along Icen Way and walked past a red car, which then came towards her.

She said that she thought the male inside was going to ask for directions but when she looked in the car she saw the man exposing himself.

The woman told the man to go and rang the police a short while after.

She added that she was ‘upset’ by the incident.

McLeish, of Lawrence Close, Bovington, told the jury he was a corporal in the army who had recently been training recruits at Bovington and had served two tours of Afghanistan.

He said that on the night in question he was at home with his son and mother and did not leave the house at any time, something that was also confirmed by his mum.

The defendant also claimed his wife taken the car to work on the night in question and added that when he was arrested it was a major shock.

He said: “I was completely in shock because I have never been faced with that.

“I was very taken aback.”

McLeish added: “I was completely mortified because of the situation I found myself in.”

When he was asked whether he was the man the alleged victims had seen in the car, he replied: “Absolutely not.”

It took the jury of nine men and three women one hour and 40 minutes to reach a unanimous guilty verdict.

McLeish was released on bail and will return to court to be sentenced on May 29.