A MAN who exposed himself to children through the window of his first floor flat has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Nicholas Farrelly was convicted in August of one count of exposure, after jurors heard that he had flashed at a family “30 to 40 times” in one day after having sex with a prostitute.

During the trial, the 25-year-old said he had not deliberately exposed himself to a woman and her two children, but had no curtains on the window overlooking their back garden in Blackbird Leys. He said he was still “feeling quite horny” when he returned home from visiting a prostitute, and was “probably naked” or in his boxer shorts.

At Oxford Crown Court yesterday, Recorder James Guthrie received medical assessments diagnosing him as having paranoid schizophrenia.

Clare Evans, for Farrelly, said he did not want to go to hospital, and was improving his life at a hostel.

But consultant psychiatrist Dr Janet Paterson, of Warneford Hospital, told the court: “He has been suffering mental illness for some years but never had the opportunity to be adequately treated.

She added: “This is a man who was at university a couple of years ago, and is now in homeless accommodation with very little contact with friends and family.”

Recorder Guthrie said Farrelly, who spent 162 days in custody after his arrest in April, would be best treated in hospital, despite his wishes.

He made an order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act and told Farrelly he would be listed on the Sex Offenders Register for seven years.