Briton pleads guilty to masturbation offenses

CAMBRIDGE, England, March 19 (UPI) -- A British artist accused of repeatedly masturbating in public view, including during an art exhibition, was suffering mental health problems, a court heard.

Adam Webb, 29, pleaded guilty this week to two counts of outraging public decency in Cambridge Magistrates' Court, was sentenced to 12 months of probation, and was ordered to pay $141 in costs and a $100 victim surcharge, Cambridge News reported Wednesday.

The court heard Webb was seen masturbating in front of a large bay window at his home Feb. 12, was spotted by a young mother out walking with her two infant children.

The court heard Webb was at the Cambridge Salon Art Gallery that same day and was acting "very friendly" toward a young woman who spotted him rubbing himself over his clothes.

"He said, 'Oh yeah,' and then went out to the fire escape saying he was going to have a smoke," prosecutor Delia Matthews told the court. "The woman could see his hand moving and had this horrible thought he could be masturbating. She glanced at him and could see he was. She was so shocked, but could then see some customers walk in. He approached them, shook hands with them and started telling them about his work."

The court heard Webb suffers from mental health problems and had recently changed medications at the time of the incidents.

The court ordered Webb to continue with his mental health program.