A convicted sex offender, the Wales Flasher Rapist Darryl Price, disguised his car with fake number plates before going out and masturbating in front of a jogger on a busy main road, a court has heard. Darryl Price opened the door of the parked car and pleasured himself as the lone female passed by on the pavement before getting out of the vehicle and following her. He then jumped back into the car and sped off, and became involved in a high-speed chase with police as he tried to get away.
Swansea Crown Court heard Price has a previous conviction for exposure in similar circumstances when he masturbated in front of a group of teenager girls from a van. Dean Pulling, prosecuting, said on the evening of March 18 this year a female jogger on Margam Road in Port Talbot saw a black Ford Fiesta parked at the side of the road a little way in the distance – the car was facing her, and the passenger door was open
As the jogger approached the vehicle she saw a “smirking” man sat in the passenger seat with his trousers pulled down and his penis in his hand. The court heard Darryl Price gestured towards his penis and told her to “put your hand on this” – the woman responded by telling him to f*** ***. The woman continued on her way but Price got out of the Fiesta and began to follow her before turning around, getting back into the car, and speeding off – almost colliding with a passing car as he did so. The incident was reported to police, and the woman was able to give a partial number plate.
The court heard that a short time later an officer on vehicle patrol in Port Talbot spotted a car matching the description of the suspected Ford, and signalled for it to stop. Darryl Price responded by speeding away, and the officer gave chase. The prosecutor said the defendant raced through the town at speeds touching 80mph, overtaking numerous cars as he did so and at one point speeding over a zebra crossing on the wrong side of the road. The officer ended the pursuit as Darryl Price sped along the A48 dual carriageway towards the M4 junction.
The court heard the PC had been able to note the full number plate of the fleeing car, and checks showed the registration number displayed on the Fiesta actually belonged to a Peugeot registered to a woman living in Bridgend. Officers then set about checking the details of local sex offenders, and the offender manager in charge of Darryl Price said the defendant had mentioned to him in passing a few months earlier that he had access to cloned plates.
The Fiesta was subsequently found outside a garage in Cefn Cribwr, and when officers searched it they found a receipt for a McDonald’s meal which had been purchased shortly before the Margam exposure – when CCTV from the burger joint’s drive-thru was checked it showed Price at the wheel of the car. The fake number plates were found a few days later on farmland near South Cornelly, and tests found the defendant’s fingerprints on them. The prosecutor said an examination of automatic number plate recognition cameras from around Port Talbot showed the Fiesta – which actually belonged to Darryl Price’s mother – was displaying its correct plates shortly before the offence, and it was reasonable to assume Price had fitted the plates that evening in order to carry out the offence and avoid detection.
The court heard Darryl Price was arrested on March 25 after police spotted him walking through Pyle – he ran away from the officers through nearby gardens but was chased and caught. Darryl Ashley Price, 29, of no fixed abode, had previously pleaded guilty to exposure, dangerous driving, and fraudulent use of a car registration mark when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
He has previous convictions including for inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent – for which he was sentenced to six years in prison in 2017 – drug-driving, and drugs and weapons offences. In 2018 he was sentenced to 28 weeks in prison for exposure after he had masturbated in front of a group of teenage girls from the driver’s seat of a van in Port Talbot, and had asked them if they “wanted any”. He was out of prison on licence for the GBH at the time of the Margam offence, and has since been recalled to prison to serve the rest of that sentence.
Rhodri Chudleigh, for Darryl Price, said the defendant had been living with his mother at the time of the incident, and had been using her car. He said his client had three children with three different partners, and was a plasterer by trade. He said Darryl Price recognised that his daily use of cannabis was a contributory factor in his offending [LOL YEAH RIGHT], and said while in prison he had completed a number of courses including one on thinking skills
Judge Huw Rees described what happened on Margam Road as a “disgraceful incident” which had caused distress to the woman, and he told Darryl Price that in doing what he had done he had demeaned his victim and demeaned himself. With a one third discount for his guilty plea to exposure the defendant was sentenced to six months in prison and with a one quarter discount for the plea to the dangerous driving offence to nine months in prison to run consecutively.
He was also sentenced to six months for the number plate offence to run concurrently with the other matters making an overall sentence of 15 months in prison. Darryl Price will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The defendant was also banned from driving for a total of 31 months. Price will be on the sex offenders register for the next seven years.
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