Robert Webb prefers used over new.
A Penzance man repeatedly stole ladies knickers from a schoolteacher’s washing line to use in a sexual act, a court heard.
UNITED KINGDOM – Robert Webb, 22, of Lannoweth Road, targeted the neighbour’s back garden five times.
Afterwards police advised him to instead buy ladies underwear from shops until he saw a GP to help cope with the problem.
PC Jill Berryman told The Cornishman after the case: “My concern was that it was a compulsion and how he was going to manage it until he received help because I didn’t want others to be victims.
“Part of it was the thrill of using underwear that somebody else had worn and I didn’t think it would stop overnight.”
At Truro Magistrates’ Court today (Thursday), Webb – shaven-headed and wearing a gold chain – admitted five charges of stealing knickers between May 25 and June 12 this year.
Prosecutor Simon Jones said: “She (the victim) had noticed that on May 25 a pair of her knickers were stolen from the line some time earlier in the evening.
“Later the same evening another pair of knickers were stolen and it continued. There was also one of her child’s pair of white knickers was stolen.”
The victim reported the matters to the police, fearing the incidents would escalate.
She recalled seeing a man in her yard who claimed to be looking for his football.
The description matched CCTV footage of a man stealing from the same washing line on June 12.
Webb was arrested on June 13 and admitted the thefts were for a sexual act. He said he had not meant to steal the child’s pair.
Paul Simon, for the defence, said his client had “deep-seated issues”.
Sentencing was adjourned for reports until August 6.
Courtesy ThisIsCornwall.co.uk
