A MAN whose break-up with his wife led to him flashing at schoolgirls while wearing her knickers was freed from prison on appeal, yesterday.

Michael Croney, 35, haunted the streets of Guildford, Surrey, committing sex acts in front of girls aged ten to 15.

Croney was living with his parents in Consett, County Durham, when sentenced to four years in jail at The Old Bailey on September 28.

He had admitted one count of committing a lewd or obscene act, two counts of gross indecency, one of insulting behaviour, and one of indecent exposure.

But Mr Justice Aikens, sitting in London's Criminal Appeal Court, freed him yesterday by replacing his jail term with a three-year community rehabilitation order.

He said Croney's behaviour was "linked to depression, and not sexually motivated".