A MAN who exposed himself to a papergirl has been sentenced to three years on a sex offenders' programme.

The 15-year-old girl was walking through Leigh when 23-year-old Alan Hughes, of Smithfield Street, Parr, St Helens, pulled up beside her in his car and committed the offence.

At Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, Judge Henry Globe, QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, told him that the offence justified a custodial sentence but because of his guilty plea and suitability to attend the sex offenders' programme he would not jail him. It is not a soft option. You will be required to attend one day a week for a minimum of 44 sessions within the three year period. They will be challenging sessions and you will have to face the reasons for why you have been acting as you have been," he said. If he breaches the order he will be sent to jail, the judge said.

He warned Hughes, who has a previous conviction involving behaving indecently in a phone kiosk, that if he breaches the order he will be sent to jail.

Hughes, of Smithfield Street, Parr, St Helens, pleaded guilty to committing an act of gross indecency.

Charles Lander, defending, said that Hughes has a new partner who was present in court, but he had moved out of their home because of the conviction.

"His behaviour was stimulated by his addiction to amphetamine," he said, adding that he is trying to address his problems and has been referred to a specialist by his GP.