Sex In Hyde Park: Couple Found Guilty Of Outraging Public Decency At BBC Radio 2 Concert

Couple Fined For 'Particularly Revolting' Sex Act At Hyde Park Concert

A couple who engaged in a "particularly revolting" sex act during a crowded BBC Radio 2 concert in Hyde Park have been found guilty of outraging public decency and fined.

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 14 last year.

Lisanne Beck and Simon Murphy arriving at the Old Bailey in London

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 including oral sex. 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 13 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."

The couple turned amorous during Paloma Faith's performance on stage for BBC Radio 2 Live In The Park at Hyde Park on September 14, 2014

As he brought the case to a close, the judge told the couple: "I hope that no court ever sees either of you again."

He also turned to the jury and described this as "a highly unusual case".

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.

Beck and Murphy have been fined for the offence

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 has heard.

Norfolk Constabulary Detective Inspector Phillip Gray, whose wife alerted security, said he saw a girl who was probably 15 or 16 years old moving away "clearly upset by what was going on".

There was also an Asian couple nearby and the male "moved the woman away," he recalled.

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.

Beck told the jury: "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)."

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.

Close

What's Hot