Man's 'mortifying' poo incident two years ago lands him in prison

Man's 'mortifying' poo incident two years ago lands him in prison

A warrant had previously been issued for his arrest after the "bizarre" crime in a Gloucestershire village

View 2 Images Lydbrook Social Club and a file image of Mark Mortimer, inset (Image: Google Maps/ Gloucestershire Police)

A man who defecated on a wall before cleaning himself with a sandwich has been sent to prison for six weeks.

Cheltenham magistrates issued the sentence to Mark Mortimer at a hearing on July 1. It followed him having been convicted of an act of outraging public decency, following the incident in Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, more than two years ago.

Mortimer, of Newland Street, Coleford, pleaded guilty to outraging public decency - and to breaking into a cottage in Lydbrook and stealing a torch on the same day - when his case finally reached Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court on April 1 this year.

He failed to appear at the court for sentencing on May 12, prompting magistrates to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Mortimer pleaded guilty to affray at Coleford on October 29, 2024, when a separate case was heard at Gloucester Crown Court on May 5 this year.

He was given a four-month prison sentence but was released because of time he had already spent in custody.

The 47-year-old has since been sent behind bars after being given six weeks in prison for an act of outraging public decency and the same sentence, to run concurrently, for burglary and theft.

In May this year those running the Lydbrook & District Community Social Club, in the small Forest of Dean village, spoke about what he did at the venue on the evening of February 13, 2024.

A spokeswoman for the club, who did not want to be named, previously said: “He came in at about 8.30pm and acted very bizarrely. He said some strange things.

“He asked if he could use the toilet. We said that he could and he did. He was in there for four or five minutes.”

She said Mortimer, who had a dog with him, was blunt - asking for a drink but saying he didn’t have any money to pay for it.

He also reportedly claimed he had a bomb in his pocket, although club officials saw for themselves that it was actually a large silver metal ball.

View 2 Images Police previously shared this image of Mark Mortimer (Image: Gloucestershire Police)

The spokeswoman said staff pretended that the club was closing because his behaviour was so strange and they wanted him to leave.

But they were amazed when he then went outside and defecated on the wall of the club, before wiping his bottom with a sandwich that he took out of a black bag he had with him.

The spokeswoman, who has run the club with her partner for 10 years, said: “I’ve never known anything so disgusting in all of my life. You don’t expect somebody to do anything so disgusting.”

She added that the outrageous act left her annoyed and stunned.

“I was absolutely mortified,” she said. The spokeswoman said the police quickly caught up with Mortimer close to the club and arrested him.