Paula Stanton (Image: South Wales Police)
Last Updated: 9 minutes ago
A 62-year-old transgender woman from Barry has been handed a prison sentence of more than five months after she masturbated in front of staff at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.
Paula Stanton, of Severn Avenue, Barry, pleaded guilty to a charge of outraging public decency over the incident on Sunday, May 17.
The offence
Stanton, a former soldier and Falklands War veteran, had been taken to the hospital by ambulance during the early hours for a mental health assessment after concerns were raised about a threat to self-harm.
Prosecutor Lewis Ball told the court that while at the hospital, Stanton placed her hands down her leggings and began performing a sex act, which continued intermittently.
“Staff could see that she had her penis in her hand and that her hand was moving up and down. This was happening on and off.”
“He made eye contact with one nurse while he was doing it.”
Hospital security attended but the behaviour had stopped by the time they arrived.
Arrest
Police were called and Stanton was taken into custody. When officers arrested her, she said: “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Previous offending
Stanton has 12 previous convictions covering 19 offences.
She was sentenced to 12 months in prison in August 2024 for two counts of outraging public decency. In that case, she touched herself sexually at her flat window while wearing a black bra and white knickers under a dressing gown as women walked past outside. Stanton told police the behaviour aroused her, and placed a handwritten note described as “sinister” beneath one victim’s car windscreen, asking the woman to keep looking at her.
The latest offence also put Stanton in breach of a six-month suspended prison sentence imposed in August last year for exposure.
Mitigation
Defence barrister Alice Sykes told the court that Stanton had already spent the equivalent of two months behind bars after being remanded in custody following her arrest in May.
Sentencing
Recorder Barry Clarke told Stanton the seriousness of her offending meant only an immediate custodial sentence was justified.
She was given 100 days’ imprisonment for outraging public decency, with a consecutive 60-day term for breaching the suspended sentence – totalling 160 days.
Stanton will serve around 40 per cent of the sentence in custody before being released on licence.
