The transgender woman carried out the act while awaiting a mental health assessment
20:47, 15 Jun 2026Updated 09:10, 16 Jun 2026
Paula Stanton, 62, of Severn Avenue, Barry, has been jailed after masturbating in full public view in a hospital waiting room(Image: South Wales Police)
A transgender woman has been jailed for masturbating in front of nurses at a Welsh hospital. Serial sex offender Paula Stanton, 62, of Severn Avenue, Barry, has been jailed after she admitted carrying out an act outraging public decency by masturbating at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff earlier this year.
Cardiff Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday that Stanton had been taken to hospital via ambulance after making threats of self harm in the early hours of the morning on May 17.
Prosecutor Lewis Ball told the court that while the defendant was sat in the waiting room awaiting a mental health assessment, she put 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 detail of how Stanton was masturbating “in full view” of the nurses’ desk, making eye contact with a nurse on duty at the time. This happened on and off periodically before staff members called the police.
Upon her arrest, Stanton told police officers “I did nothing wrong”, before answering “no comment” during her police interview.
In November 2019 Stanton was handed a five-year sexual harm prevention order for outraging public decency. She was again handed a five-year long sexual harm prevention order in August 2025 for indecent exposure offences.
The defendant has 12 previous convictions for 19 offences, five of which are sex offences committed between 2019 and 2025. Many of Stanton’s previous convictions include outraging public decency offences as well as indecent exposure offences.
An earlier offence by Stanton involved a sex act while wearing lingerie in a window as women walked past. Another offence saw Stanton performing a sex act in a car.
The offence committed inside the hospital waiting room this year put the defendant in breach of a sentence passed down to her of six months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, for an offence of indecent exposure committed in August 2025.
Alongside Stanton’s previous convictions, Mr Ball said her offending was aggravated by the location being a public hospital. Mr Ball said in such settings there is a “particular need to comply” with public safety laws.
Alice Sykes, for Stanton, told the court her client understood that immediate custody was likely. Ms Sykes said that prior to her recent offending 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 remanded in custody in May.
Recorder Barry Clarke told Stanton that her offending was so serious 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.”
Giving credit for the early guilty plea, Judge Clarke sentenced Stanton to just over five months imprisonment. The sentence was calculated as 100 days for the offence on May 17, with 60 days to run consecutively for the breach of her suspended sentence.
Stanton will be released after serving 70 days in custody, with the remainder of her sentence to be served on licence.
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