Harry Potter actor exposes self!

An actor who appeared in the Harry Potter and Star Wars films has been given a suspended 20-week jail term for indecently exposing himself to a teenager on a train.

Former pantomime star Nicholas Read, who played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi, was told by a judge that a suspended sentence would offer the best opportunity for rehab.

Read, of Cheadle, north Staffordshire, was convicted of indecent exposure last month after a 17-year-old girl told Leicester crown court how the actor performed a sex act under the cover of a juggler's hat.

Read was shown mercy by recorder Richard Bond despite having previous convictions for sexual offences, including an incident in which he climbed into the bed of a stage manager and his girlfriend.

The 40-year-old's previous convictions also included a series of "random" and explicit phone calls made to women from a hotel room in 1995.

Bond said, "A relatively short sentence of imprisonment will not help you, and it certainly will not protect the public from your fantasies.
u00a0
I have had to ask myself this question: is this a case where not just you, but more importantly, the public would benefit from you receiving a short custodial sentence?
u00a0
The answer to that is no."

The judge imposed two specific requirements on Read, which will require him to be supervised by the probation service and to undertake a community sex offender group work programme.