Woman accused of Hyde Park sex act was 'tipsy'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-33865161

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A woman accused of performing a sex act during a concert has told a court she was "tipsy", but she did nothing wrong.

Lisanne Beck, 47, and her boyfriend Simon Murphy, 48, from Swansea, were filmed on a mobile phone at the event in Hyde Park on 14 September 2014.

Ms Beck told the Old Bailey she was not engaging in oral sex, but was trying to help Mr Murphy to the toilet.

The couple have pleaded not guilty to behaving indecently by engaging in sexual activity including oral sex.

'Tipsy and merry'

Ms Beck said on a scale of one-to-ten of drunkenness she was probably about a five, saying: "I was tipsy and merry. I was not really drunk."

She added: "I shook him because I wanted to wake him up and to try and assist him to the toilet.

"He had not been to the toilet and I knew that he gets discomfort in his stomach because of a medical condition - IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)."

Members of the audience complained after seeing the couple during a set by Paloma Faith at the BBC Radio 2 concert last year.

The couple were filmed on a mobile phone by one concert-goer who said he was "shocked" by what he saw, the jury previously heard.

An off-duty policeman and children were among the members of the public who spotted the incident and a young girl had to be "shielded" from it, the court was told.

'Ridiculous thing'

The Old Bailey heard the couple had each drunk about three or four cans of cider before arriving at the park and Ms Beck had also drunk from a pre-mixed bottle of vodka and cola.

She told the jury she could not move Mr Murphy, who was lying on the ground, because he was a "dead weight".

The jury heard the next thing she recalled was security, who had received complaints, coming to throw the couple out of the event.

Ms Beck told the jury to have sex in a busy park would be a "ridiculous thing".

She said: "I am not a crazy teenager in a first relationship.

"We are a mature couple and are not interested in doing anything as outrageous like that."

She added: "I am not lying. I did not have sex in the park."

Ms Beck, a hospitality waitress, and Mr Murphy, a gardener, deny a charge of outraging public decency.