Febuary 2011 Jail for man in drunken Bere Regis sex assault A MAN who drunkenly exposed himself in front of a group of teenagers and sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in Bere Regis has been jailed for 16 months. Triston Gale, 23, was sentenced at Dorchester Crown Court after admitting charges of exposure, sexual assault, possessing an offensive weapon and common assault. Clifford Grier, prosecuting, said on June 25 last year Gale, who was living in the Bere Regis area at the time, went to an area of grass by Elder Road where around 20 youths aged between 12 and 19 were gathered at a shelter. He said the defendant started ‘mucking about’, playing football with some of the boys and pushing them around. However, Mr Grier said the mood soon changed when Gale started being abusive. Mr Grier said he then exposed himself and rubbed himself up against the clothing of another girl, who was aged 15. He said: “Some descriptions were that it was like a pole-dancing manoeuvre.” Mr Grier said the second girl, also 15, told Gale to go away and the defendant, who was still exposing himself, responded with lewd comments. A number of the youths then tried to move away but Gale followed them. Mr Grier said the second girl again told Gale to go away but he approached her and was ‘in her face’. Four of the youths tried to pull the defendant away and he responded by assaulting one of them, a third 15-year-old girl. Mr Grier said: “He grabbed her by the throat and dragged her to the floor.” Gale then went away from the group but reappeared a short while afterwards with a three-foot wooden broom handle, which he started hitting against some bollards while he shouted at the teenagers. Mr Grier said some of the youths then ran towards Gale and pinned him to the floor but he then got up and ran off. Gale was later arrested and when he was interviewed told police he had drunk a bottle of gin that evening and could not remember much of what took place. Tim Shorter, mitigating, said Gale, of Market Road, Thrapston, Kettering, had no previous convictions for any offences and was full of remorse for his actions that evening. He said: “He does not himself understand why he behaved in that way that evening or how he came to behave like that. “He acknowledges what he did was reprehensible and worthy of punishment.” Judge Roger Jarvis sentenced Gale to a total of 16 months in prison for all of the offences. He also ordered that Gale be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for a period of ten years and made subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order. The judge said: “The incidents themselves were by any measure serious and unpleasant. “Although you were drunk you sexually terrorised these adolescents and it is obvious to me that there must be some long-standing impact on those young girls.”