A 48-YEAR-OLD man who tried to have sex with a plastic cone in a train station lift has been spared an immediate jail sentence.

Trevor Smith, of Arrivato Plaza, Hall Street, St Helens was given a 26-week prison sentence suspended for two years today at Bolton Crown Court.

The court heard how Smith committed the bizarre act at Wigan North Western train station on the night of Sunday, April 14.

Two members of rail staff spotted Smith at around 9.30pm and saw he had what was described as a 'yellow cleaning cone' on his lap while he sat on the floor inside a lift.

They then noticed both his trousers and underpants were pulled down and he was thrusting with his hips into the cone.

British Transport Police were called and when an officer arrived he saw Smith lying on top of the cone and thrusting his hips "as if he was having sex with the cone".

When the defendant saw the officer he quickly pulled up his trousers and the officer said he could see a white substance on his face which he took to be drugs.

Duncan Wilcox, prosecuting, said both Virgin Train workers had given victim impact statements.

"They were disgusted and appalled by what they had seen but also relieved that members of the public had not seen it," he said.

The court heard Smith had eight previous convictions going back to 1989, including two similar offences involving masturbating in public.

In 2012, a female neighbour saw Smith performing a sex act naked while 'on all fours' on the roof of a kitchen in Bickershaw Lane, Wigan.

He received a conditional discharge from magistrates, but was arrested again in 2015 after being found performing an indecent act while covered in a blanket on the back seat of a car in Gordon Street, Leigh.

Smith was seen by a female passer-by and when approached by her brother he had refused to stop and continued to pleasure himself for a period of up to 40 minutes until police officers arrived.

Gareth Bellis, defending, said his client had been sober for 30 days and had secured a job as a plumber with a local firm dependent on the outcome of the court case.

"He (Smith) is under no illusion this offence crosses the custody threshold," he added.

Sentencing Smith to 26 weeks imprisonment suspended for two years, Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh, said: "The facts are bad enough but they are aggravated by your antecedence history.

"This was disgusting behaviour and any decent member of the community who witnessed you would have been appalled."

Smith must also undertake up to 30 days of rehabilitation activity and be on curfew between the hours of 8pm

and 6am for three months.