A WOMAN has admitted behaving in a lewd and indecent manner after being caught on CCTV apparently performing a sex act on a stranger.

Dawn Sharpe agreed to be bound over when she appeared before Teesside Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

She had been due to face trial charged with outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner with David Harton.

However, following lastminute talks between the prosecution and defence teams the charge was dropped when the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence.

And when the emotional 40-year-old, of Price Avenue, Middlesbrough, accepted the conditions, she said: “I will never do anything like this again.”

Andrea Milsom, prosecuting, told the court that Mrs Sharpe and a male were spotted by CCTV operators near the shopping precinct in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, in the early hours of July 3, last year.

They witnessed the lewd behaviour before contacting the police who arrested the pair when they arrived at the scene at about 4.10am.

Mrs Milsom said: “The female was sat on a bench while the male was stood with his trousers and underwear around his ankles and the male was making groaning noises.”

Sharpe was bound over to the sum of £100 to keep the peace for six months on condition that she does not engage in lewd or indecent behaviour in public.

District Judge Martin Walker said: “It is clear from your demeanour that this has caused you some embarrassment because it has been hanging over you since July last year.

“If you were in a situation like this again you would be ordered to forfeit the £100. I understand you are indicating that you won’t but I think it is appropriate that you are bound over to instill that in your mind.”

The case against her coaccused David Harton, 27, of Ottawa Road, Middlesbrough, was adjourned until January 19 after he failed to appear in court.

The district judge decided not to issue an immediate arrest warrant as the defendant had turned up for several earlier hearings.