British couple fined over Hyde Park sex act

A couple have been fined for their “particularly revolting behaviour” in carrying out a sex act during a crowded BBC Radio 2 concert in Hyde Park.

Judge Charles Wide QC said Lisanne Beck (47) and her boyfriend Simon Murphy (48) had no one but themselves to blame for ending up in the dock at the Old Bailey. He noted the matter could have been dealt with in a magistrates' court or by them accepting a caution.

The couple were filmed on a mobile phone locked in lewd behaviour at the family event on September 14th last year.

The jury in the retrial took just under three hours to unanimously find Beck and Murphy guilty of outraging public decency by behaving indecently by engaging in sexual activity. A previous jury failed to reach a verdict.

Beck, a hospitality waitress, and Murphy, a gardener, both of Swansea, stood quietly in the dock as the judge said there was “no doubt about what you were doing, you must have known what you were doing and you persisted in the act”.

It happened among a large number of people and children could have seen it, the judge noted.

He told the couple that they “both need to be taught a lesson by being fined” for this “particularly revolting behaviour in public”.

He fined them £1,000 each which must be paid by November 13th or they will face 21 days in prison. They must also each pay £1,750 in prosecution costs.

The judge told the couple: “The fact that you are in the crown court is something that you have entirely brought on yourself by electing trial and by not admitting what you were both doing – that does not aggravate the offence, and I make that clear, but it puts the public to considerable expense.”

Music lovers complained after seeing Beck and Murphy together during a set by Paloma Faith at the open-air concert.

Shocked onlookers described the incident as repulsive, upsetting and offensive but Beck had claimed that she was just trying to help Murphy to the toilet.

One concert-goer filmed the incident on a mobile phone and the jury heard moans of disgust from onlookers as the couple carried on regardless of those around them.

An off-duty policeman and children were among the nearby concert-goers who spotted the incident, the court heard.

Beck had claimed that on a scale of one-to-ten of drunkenness she was probably about a five, saying she was “tipsy and merry” while Murphy seemed normal and “just happy” to her.

Security officers then arrived and threw the couple out of the festival.

The couple had each drunk about three or four cans of cider before arriving at the venue. Beck said she also had drunk from a pre-mixed bottle of vodka and cola.

Murphy did not give evidence at the trial but told officers in a police interview that he was completely unaware of anything improper happening.