A 'CREEPY' flasher who terrorised a 12-year-old girl as she left a park has been jailed.

Burnley Crown Court heard Richard Laurence Graham, from Ramsbottom, already had a previous conviction for indecent exposure before 'flashing' the girl as she left Victoria Park, Haslingden, on May 19.

Prosecuting, Craig McGregor said: "That day was a Sunday and the victim was playing in Victoria Park.

"She was with a couple of her friends. It was just after 7 o'clock when she received a phone call to tell her to come home for her tea.

"She left her friends and made out of the park.

"As she was walking home through the park she saw a man, the defendant Richard Graham.

"As she walked past him she says he was smirking at her, making noises and making her feel uncomfortable."

In her evidence to the jury the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said Graham 'wolf whistled at her'.

The girl said she looked back at Graham after she had passed him to see the 29-year-old still smirking with his hands down the front of his jogging bottoms.

As she got to the exit gate the girl looked back for a final time and saw Graham, who she described as being 'creepy', with his genitals in his hand. It was at that point the girl ran home.

After the girl told her parents what had happened, the police were called.

While waiting for officers arrive the girl and her dad went back to the park, but Graham had already gone.

Mr McGregor said: "The victim thought she would be able to recognise the man again. The police organised a video identification parade.

"That was held 11 days later on May 30. She picked the defendant out.

"Enquiries were made about the defendant's car. That was picked up on automatic number plate recognition cameras at 6.38pm in Rising Bridge heading south towards Haslingden and then at 7.49pm in Edenfield."

The court heard Graham's previous exposure conviction came as a result of an incident in July 2019.

Mr McGregor said two 13-year-old girls were in Rawtenstall town centre walking from McDonald's towards the bus stations when Graham, who was driving a van, began wolf-whistling at them.

After they had got on their bus, they saw Graham again around 90 minutes later and on that occasion he exposed his genitals to them.

In his defence Graham, of Bolton Road North, said he had not committed the first incident and had only pleaded guilty because his parents said it would keep him out of prison.

And it was only as a result of that conviction that police showed the Victoria Park victim his photograph.

He claimed she had picked him out of the line-up because she must have seen him around the area before.

However a jury of 10 men and two women took one hour and 25 minutes to find Graham guilty of a single charge of exposure.

Judge Sara Dodd jailed Graham for eight months, made him the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order and told him to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.