A 53-year-old man who dropped his trousers while drunk inside a Homebase store and then in the outside car park has been banned from being drunk in public.

Kerry Maj, of Gullet Wood Road, Watford, was given a four-year Asbo as well as a three-month suspended prison sentence at St Albans Crown Court after pleading guilty to indecent exposure.

David Chrimes, prosecuting, said how shocked witnesses saw a bare chested Maj enter the St Albans Road store on the evening of Friday, May 1 and bare his buttocks.

The shop manager went to investigate and found Maj in the car park squatting down with his trousers round his ankles.

Mr Chrimes said: “It seemed he was being more offensive rather than anything of a sexual nature.

“He was exposing his buttocks and swaying and wiggling which caused him to expose himself.”

Maj then walked out to St Albans Road.

Mr Chrimes said: “He tapped on a car window of a woman with a young girl aged nine to ten, who were shocked when he exposed his buttocks in their direction.

“He was staggering and highly intoxicated. He walked down St Albans Road and was arrested nearby having adjusted his clothing and pulled his trousers up.”

Unemployed Maj has 24 convictions for 59 offences dating back to 1973 when he served four years for robbery.

He has a previous conviction for sexual assault on two women after slapping their bottoms while he was drunk in The Harlequin and Charter Place, Watford.

The day before the offence, magistrates had convicted him of breaching a community order.

Defending, Emma Reed said it was not a sexually motivated offence and asked the judge to suspend any prison sentence.

She said: “He is horrified by what he has done. He cannot remember doing it, but is ashamed and genuinely mortified but what he has done.”

Judge Gullick said: “You could not complain if I locked you up immediately, but I am prepared to give you one last opportunity.

“You are prohibited from consuming alcohol in a public place or being drunk in a public place.

“Breach that order and you can get locked up for a maximum five years.

“This is to try and ensure you do not get yourself drunk in public and commit offences of a public order or with a sexual connotation to it.”

Maj must also comply with the requirements of the sex offenders register for five years.