Amorous couple spotted having sex on grass verge in Leeds city centre
Passers-by horrified by care-free pair on busy lunch hour
A couple were seen by horrified onlookers having sex on a grass verge in Leeds city centre in the middle of the day.
The pair appeared to have little care for who saw them next to the path on Belgrave Street last month, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Bobby Taylor, who has 69 previous convictions, appeared at court today where he was jailed for outraging public decency.
His co-accused is due to appear at Leeds Magistrates’ Court in September charged with the same offence.
The court was told that the couple were spotted at the side of the path at 1.30pm on June 22, near the Vita Student accommodation building.
The incident was captured on CCTV which was not played to the court.
Prosecutor Saarah Taylor said it was a busy area and many students and young people had walked past. One witness later described it as “shocking” to see such an act on a busy street at lunchtime.
Taylor, 37, was arrested the next day but refused to answer police questions.
He appeared in court over a video link from HMP Doncaster, where he was recalled on licence, having been jailed for 30 months in August 2024 for two counts of sexual assault.
Mitigating, Matthew Stewart said that homeless Taylor had been living at St George’s Crypt in Leeds at the time due to his homelessness.
He said Taylor did not really know the woman, but he was intoxicated at the time had little recollection.
He said he was genuinely remorseful and knows he “should not have been doing that”.
The court heard that Taylor was now drug-free since being taken back to prison.
The judge, Recorder Robert Ward, told him that prison was unavoidable, jailing him for four months, which will run concurrently with his existing sentence.