Man jailed for exposing his genitals in Sunderland returns to court
A man jailed for exposing his genitals in public in Sunderland has been returned to court almost a year later for breaching an order linked to that offence.
Christopher Chapman, 37, was sentenced to four weeks behind bars in February 2025 after admitting flashing his private parts in Church Street, in the East End, earlier the same month.
Chapman, previously of Roker Avenue, Roker, Sunderland, and now of Derwentwater Road, Teams, Gateshead, claimed he believed he had been taking his clothes off at home while getting ready for bed.
The hearing, at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, was told there was no sexual motivation for the offence and he had consumed alcohol.
As well as being jailed, he was made subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, for seven years.
An element of the act compels him to attend a police station to register his personal details within three days of leaving prison after any custodial sentence.
Chapman attended the same court on Monday, January 19, 2026, to face a charge of failing to comply with the requirements.
The court heard he had been released from another custodial sentence exactly a week earlier, on Monday, January 12.
Prosecutor Christopher O’Brien said a policeman visited Chapman at his home the next day to remind him he had a duty to attend a police station by Thursday, January 15.
Mr O’Brien added the officer checked the notification register on Friday, January 16, and found no evidence Chapman had been.
He said Chapman was arrested the following day by the same officer who had again visited him at home.
Chapman pleaded guilty to a charge of breaching the notification requirements, with the court hearing he had committed the same offence twice last May and again in August.
Alastair Naismith, defending, said Chapman suffered with issues of leaving his home and socialising, following him cutting the world off for a year during Covid.
He said his client’s feelings of agoraphobia were not medically diagnosed but were real and known to the police.
Mr Naismith insisted the officer could easily have brought to Chapman’s home the relevant requirements paperwork.
District Judge Zoe Passfield sentenced Chapman to one day’s custody, but he was immediately,freed, having already served that time between his arrest and being brought to court.
She warned any further breach could see him jailed. There were no financial penalties.