Paula Stanton, 62, admitted carrying out an act outraging public decency at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff while she was sitting in the waiting area
A transgender woman has been jailed for masturbating in front of nursing staff at a Welsh hospital. Repeat sex offender Paula Stanton, 62, of Severn Avenue, Barry, has been sentenced after she pleaded guilty to committing an act outraging public decency by masturbating at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff earlier this year.
Cardiff Magistrates’ Court was told on Monday that Stanton had been transported to hospital by ambulance following threats of self-harm in the early hours of May 17.
Prosecutor Lewis Ball informed the court that while the defendant sat in the waiting area awaiting a mental health evaluation, she placed her hand down her trousers “in the groin area.”
Mr Ball said: “The defendant put her hands down her leggings to the groin area. Staff could see that she had her penis in her hand and that her hand was moving up and down.”
The court heard how Stanton was masturbating “in full view” of the nurses’ station, maintaining eye contact with a nurse who was on duty at the time. This behaviour continued intermittently before staff members contacted the police, reports Wales Online.
When arrested, Stanton declared to officers “I did nothing wrong”, before responding “no comment” throughout her police interview.
In November 2019 Stanton received a five-year sexual harm prevention order for outraging public decency. She was subsequently given another five-year sexual harm prevention order in August 2025 for indecent exposure offences.
The defendant has a record of 12 previous convictions for 19 offences, five of which are sex offences committed between 2019 and 2025. Stanton’s criminal history includes numerous counts of outraging public decency as well as indecent exposure.
The offence committed in the hospital waiting room this year put the defendant in violation of a previously imposed sentence of six months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, for an offence of indecent exposure committed in August 2025.
In addition to Stanton’s past convictions, Mr Ball highlighted that her offending was exacerbated by the location being a public hospital. In such environments, Mr Ball emphasised there is a “particular need to comply” with public safety laws.
Alice Sykes, representing Stanton, informed the court that her client understood that immediate custody was likely. Ms Sykes noted that before her recent offences, Stanton had completed an alcohol abstinence requirement programme and “had been making good progress” with the Probation Service.
Ms Sykes also told the court that the defendant had already served the equivalent of a two-month jail sentence while being held on remand in May.
Recorder Barry Clarke told Stanton that her offending was so serious that only a custodial sentence would be justified. Recorder Clarke said: “In the early hours of May 17 you were taken by ambulance to the University Hospital of Wales after making threats of self harm. Several members of staff saw you masturbating on a number of occasions.”
Acknowledging the early guilty plea, Judge Clarke handed Stanton a sentence of just over five months behind bars. The sentence was worked out as 100 days for the offence on 17 May, with an additional 60 days to be served consecutively for breaching her suspended sentence.
Stanton will be freed after serving 70 days in custody, with the rest of her sentence to be served on licence.