ALARMED families walking along Weston’s seafront got a ‘disgusting’ shock when a man made offensive sexual gestures in front of them.

Jason King, aged 46, performed indecent actions in imitation of a sexual act on Marine Parade on the afternoon of April 20.

The Prospect Place resident then swore using hand gestures at a group of people standing on the Grand Pier who were, he later claimed, shouting abuse at him.

On Monday, King pleaded guilty to causing distress at North Somerset Courthouse and apologised to magistrates for his behaviour.

In mitigation, he said he was responding to the group of people on the pier, who he said had been shouting homosexual insults, including the words ‘shirt-lifter’.

He said: “I’m very sorry for what I did, I can assure you I don’t go around and do that every day of the week. I was just angry about the people calling me names when they don’t know my sexuality. I didn’t mean to offend anyone else.”

But the court heard how King’s actions had affected two 10-year-old girls who saw his behaviour while sitting on the seafront land train.

Kelly Marshall, prosecuting, read out a statement from the mother of one of the girls, who described her daughter’s friend impersonating King later that day in a Costa Coffee outlet in the town.

Ms Marshall said: “The mother found what she saw disgusting then, later, upsetting when one of the 10 year olds mimicked what the man had been doing. His behaviour was also insulting to many people walking along the seafront that day.”

The court heard how King had previously been made subject to a sexual offence order that stopped him from being in recreational areas designed for children under 16.

Court magistrates, however, decided the offence did not breach that order, despite it taking place in front of many families.

King was fined �65 and ordered to pay �85 in court costs.