Dad who traumatised shop worker with stag do sex toy prank has jail sentence reduced on appeal

A dad who was jailed after sniffing a sex toy in Warrington’s Go Outdoors store, leaving a female shop worker in tears in a stag do prank has had his sentence reduced on appeal.

Ricki Hughes had presented the sex toy to a member of staff inside a shoe box while apparently seeking a refund on footwear, telling her: “It’s just banter.”

Hughes thought showing the embarrassed woman a flesh-toned dildo in a shoe box and inviting her to hold it while his mate filmed the incident was a joke.
Magistrates disagreed however and yesterday (Thur) after an appeal hearing over the 18 week jail sentence imposed last month a judge, sitting with two female magistrates, also ruled that it had not been funny but reduced the sentence to 12 weeks prison.
Defence barrister Julian Nutter said he wanted to remind the court “we still have a sense of humour in this country and there is a tension between the modern interpretation of how people can behave and a very traditional one.
“Those of us old enough to remember programmes such as Benny Hill and Candid Camera when there was footage galore of people behaving in shocking and surprising situations will remember a very different world where jokes could be cracked at people’s expense.
“That is wholly inconsistent with the “I’m offended” culture of the modern age.”
He pointed out that the conviction and sentence had had a serious impact on the 41-year-old dad as he was on licence from a drug dealing sentence at the time and has consequently now been recalled to prison and is not due for release until July next year.

Liverpool Crown Court was told by prosecutor Lucy Moran, opposing the appeal, that the incident happened about 2.30 pm on January 4 when Hughes went into the Go Outdoors shop in Warrington town centre.
“He presented a shoe box but it did not contain a pair of shoes but a large flesh-toned sex toy, a dildo.
A woman assistant initially thought that Hughes had been the subject of a prank and used her customer care skills to try to defuse the situation but then realised a man behind Hughes was filming the incident on a mobile phone.
It was then that she realised that she was the victim of a prank and was being filmed so that her humiliation could be recorded. “She asked him to leave as he was making people feel uncomfortable and described him as saying, “it’s just a joke, it’s just banter.”
“Hughes took the sex toy out of the box and invited her to hold it and then held it to his own nose and sniffed it. She was incredibly distressed and tearful and was escorted into a nearby office,” said Miss Moran.
After the five minute incident the police were called and after a social media appeal Hughes attended a police station on a voluntary basis.
“He gave a full account and made admissions but it was noted he was giggling throughout.”
Hughes, of Laburnum Grove, Runcorn, had pleaded guilty at Warrington magistrates court to displaying an item with intent to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.
Mr Nutter said that while at the police station Hughes had still viewed it as a joke but had expressed remorse when he realised he had upset someone.
The joke arose from it being someone’s stag do at the time and someone came up with the idea of a challenge. “That is what men do.”
He added that it had “plainly got out of hand but it was not intended to be something which would offed someone. It was intended to be funny.”
Hughes has served six weeks of the term imposed by magistrates which was the equivalent of a 12 week sentence, said Mr Nutter, and he urged the Bench to reduce the sentence to reflect the time served.
Giving their ruling the judge, Recorder Carwyn Cox said, “Trying to equate this with comedies of years gone by doesn’t cut it. There was no need for this behaviour that day.”
He said that while the incident only lasted five minutes “it must have seemed like a significant time indeed” for the woman concerned.
And he pointed out Hughes had still been laughing when interviewed. “It doesn’t smack of a significant level of remorse. It was clearly something you and your group thought was funny but it wasn’t, far from it.”
The judge said they agreed the offence crossed the custody threshold but reduced the sentence to 12 weeks imprisonment.