Jane, 31, saw the flasher a few weeks ago. The mother-of-two had just dropped her daughter off at nursery in the morning and and was on her way to work. She walked her usual route and was on her way towards the Bramall Lane underpass when she saw a young man.

"When he saw me he turned around and walked back down. I thought something was wrong, it was weird behaviour." Jane carried on walking through the underpass and suddenly the man had his trousers down. "And he had his penis out. And he was ‘shuffling it’. Violently. In my direction."

"He had his phone down there as well, like he was trying to film it and me." Jane pretended to not see him and gave no response. "I kept my face completely blank and just walked right past him like he wasn’t there. I thought I’m not gonna give him the satisfaction of upsetting me."

Police didn't seem interested

Jane’s advice to other women if they see a flasher is to phone 999 immediately and don’t give a reaction. "Because that’s what they want, they want to feel like they affect people. If they don’t get a reaction, they’re not satisfying that."

”The man looked about 19-20, said Jane, and described him as white, stocky, and with a shaved head. He was of medium build and wore grey jogging trousers and a t-shirt. "He didn’t look unkempt, just looked like a normal young man."

She made her way to the office before she burst into tears and called the police. "They said someone would get back to me in 24 hours. Two weeks later, someone came round. He asked me what had happened, but didn’t seem that interested really."

'It makes you very vulnerable'

Jane thought it was very awkward to talk to a young male officer about the flasher. "I think sending a woman would be far more appropriate. It was a really embarrassing conversation. I mean, you’re talking about someone masturbating. How can a man have any idea what that feels like for a woman? It makes you very vulnerable. And I did feel violated by it."  

The police told her nine other incidents had been reported and they think it is the same man.

“I am seriously concerned about escalation, because the way he did it was so aggressive," said Jane. "The guy obviously has something wrong with him. And they need to catch him before he ruins his own life and somebody else’s."

Spotted in Broomhill

The police told her the man was operating in Norfolk Park, the Waitrose underpass and the Bramall Lane underpass. Recently Jane noticed a post on Facebook by a woman who said she had seen a man fitting his description in Broomhill. 

“I can’t believe they’ve not caught him yet. Nine times before me, and that’s just the ones that have been reported. He must be doing it very regularly.”

"If he was doing this to young men, he’d be caught by now. I genuinely don’t think it’s a priority . It’s going to take something like someone being attacked for them to catch him. That’s what makes me so angry.”