Pink thong fetish flasher jailed

A serial flasher with a fetish for pink thongs has been jailed for 22 months after pleading guilty to breach of the peace at various locations in Glasgow. John Shovelin, 30, targeted shoppers, clubbers and restaurant-goers in the city centre between February and June.

Shovelin, who already has similar convictions, was identified from CCTV footage, Glasgow Sheriff Court heard. He was ordered to be supervised for two years on release from prison and placed on the sex offenders register.

The court heard how Shovelin was captured on CCTV exposing his underwear and buttocks to a group of women outside Princes Square in the early hours of 11 February. A similar incident in Springfield Court was captured by CCTV operators on 6 March.



Shovelin was identified by one of the investigating officers and charged with public indecency. This did not deter him, however, and he targeted two girls in Sauchiehall Street on 20 April.

He targeted two other girls on 18 June at the Primark store at Sauchiehall Street and a group of four women a short time later outside a KFC outlet on the same street. Passing sentence, Sheriff Martin Jones told him: "What is uppermost in the court's mind is the protection of the public, especially young women who are going about their business in Glasgow City Centre."

Shovelin was forced to hand over his thongs to the Crown after prosecutor Kate Potter asked that they be forfeited.