A FATHER of three has been cleared today of outraging public decency by committing an indecent act at a children’s adventure park in Berkeley.

After a three day trial at Gloucester Crown Court, the jury found Andrew Locke, 35, of Cheltenham, not guilty of two charges.

Locke, of Hungerford Street, had denied engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child at Cattle Country in Berkeley on June 25 this year.

He also denied a second charge of committing an act which outraged public decency on the same date.

Locke's defence was that he had been at the adventure park to try to steal from parents and he was putting his hand down his trousers to put on or take off a hidden glove he was using for theft.

After his acquittal the prosecution applied for a non-conviction restraining order to be imposed on Locke to prevent him from going to children’s play areas alone. The order will not apply if he takes his own children with him.

Imposing the order for five years, Judge Jamie Tabor QC told Locke: "I am making this restraining order because, for whatever reason, you should not be lurking around in a suspicious way at a children’s playground.

"The effect was that you drew attention to yourself, as you now appreciate. If you breach this order you could be imprisoned for up to five years."

The judge heard that Locke also faced a separate unrelated charge of burglary, to which he had pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing.

Locke's barrister Kannan Siva asked the judge to give an indication what sentence he would pass if Locke admitted breaking into the premises of Hope Construction Materials Ltd in Swindon Lane, Cheltenham, between January 5 and 8 this year and stealing a safe, two cameras and some cash.

The judge said he would pass a suspended jail term but not an immediate one. Locke then pleaded guilty.

Prosecutor James Bennett said the company premises were locked on the night of January 6 and when staff arrived next morning they found a door had been forced open. Drawers had been rifled through, items moved around, and tools including a lump hammer had been used to smash away the concrete surround of a small safe to steal it.

In fact the safe had been empty and little else was taken except two cameras worth only £20 and £1.20 in small change.

Mr Siva said that at the time of the raid Locke was low after losing his job as a painter and decorator. His last criminal conviction had been seven years ago and the one before that seven years earlier.

Judge Tabor sentenced Locke to four months’ jail suspended for two years and ordered him to do 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £100 costs and an £80 surcharge.