by Sam Hawcroft
On Monday, June 16, 28-year-old Mark Stuart was sentenced over a string of sexual offences targeting women in Hull, Hedon and Hornsea.
In each case, Stuart sought to intimidate his lone victims in areas they’d walked through many times. Places that they had, up to that point, always felt safe in.
Stuart pursued one victim on his bike, despite the fact she was on the phone to her husband while trying to reach her car. Stuart was standing between her and safety, all the while outraging public decency. She said she’d never felt so scared in her life.
The incident left her feeling unable to return to her usual dog walking route and as a result she gained weight and became “riddled with anxiety”. It took her almost a year to regain her confidence, and, even then, her life has been forever altered by what was a traumatic experience.
Another victim said her experience had “changed her perception of what was safe” – adding that, if someone could do something like that in broad daylight, who knew what could happen after dark?
The reason I am highlighting this case in this newspaper is, frankly, because it’s about time we talked about it, and I have a platform to do so.
There aren’t many women around who haven’t had something like this happen to them. It’s happened to me. Twice.
I had a similar experience on a local rural track a couple of years back while walking alone – and, after the initial shock and fear (is he going to chase after me? Is he going to attack me?), my feelings quickly turned to anger. Anger that, in that moment, I was made to feel unsafe in the Holderness countryside that I love so much. I had been robbed of something.
Going further back, about 25 years ago when I was living off Spring Bank in Hull, a man followed me to my front gate. Just before I was about to open the door, he said, “Hey, love, look at this.”
When I turned around… well, you know the rest. I fumbled for my keys and went inside, slammed the door, locked it behind me and tried to calm down. I moved out of the area weeks later.
I didn’t report that first offence to police – I don’t think it even occurred to me that I should have – but I reported the more recent one. But I only did so after texting friends immediately afterwards and saying, “Right, this just happened… what should I do? Is it worth reporting? Or too trivial?” And they all said, “It’s absolutely not trivial – you must report it!”
I know this sounds crazy, but it wasn’t until a police officer visited me at home and mentioned the name “Libby Squire” that it really hit me how serious offences like this are. But it’s entirely natural to want to diminish them in your mind – mainly for your own sanity, and perhaps also out of a desire not to be a bother to already stretched authorities.
The man who killed the University of Hull student in February 2019 had a history of sexual offences against women – a pattern of so-called “low-level” deviance that snowballed into murderous intent. After Libby’s death, her mother campaigned for tougher sentencing for men convicted of “non-contact” offences such as exposure and voyeurism.
One might argue that the Mark Stuart case points up that there’s more work to do in that regard, as he avoided an immediate custodial sentence despite being told the seriousness of his offending crossed the threshold for this.
The judge suspended Stuart’s 18-month jail term for two years to reflect his guilty plea (despite this only coming on the day of what would have been his trial, for which he must pay court costs), and his good conduct since the offences were committed. But Stuart was warned this was his “one last chance” and that further reoffending would result in a lengthy spell behind bars.
Women know that it’s “not all men”. I know it’s “not all men”. I love blokes, I like blokey things like football and cars, and I’ve probably got far more male pals than female ones. But the fact remains that, while it’s “not all men”, it’s virtually all women. Most females have been victims in some way of this sort of offending – and men need to know it’s not on, and they need to call it out.
I haven’t got the space nor the time here to delve into the myriad causes of what seems to be a growing and pressing problem – from internet porn and social media to the complexities and indeed failings of an overloaded legal system.
It’s often painted as a “young man” problem (such as the discourse around the Netflix drama Adolescence), but the very same day as Stuart’s sentencing, for instance, a 63-year-old man was arrested for exposing himself to a woman and child in Southcoates Avenue in Hull.
This sort of thing seems to be happening with depressing regularity and I don’t think it’s an age thing, it’s a male thing.
So, my main message would be – if this happens to you, PLEASE report it. It may be traumatic to go through the process of being a witness if the case comes to court, but it helps the police build up a vital pattern of evidence that could end up saving someone’s life.
Stuart’s card is now marked, as he must register on the sex offenders’ list for 10 years. I genuinely hope he can understand the error of his ways, the impact he’s had on his victims, and rehabilitate himself.