Woman Caught Masturbating On Train Said She Was 'Itching A Rash'

A woman who performed a sex act while traveling on an underground train claimed she was "itching a rash." Sarah Hinkson, 37, was scheduled to appear in court this week for the incident that took place in February at King’s Cross station in central London, but she did not show up.

Police issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for the mother-of-one, local media reported. On the day of the incident, police had taken her into custody with her hand still down her jeans.

According to the Daily Mail, Hinkson draped herself across four seats on the Hammersmith and City line before performing a sex act in front of passengers, who were shocked by her behavior.

Passenger Anthony Burton said he was "quite taken aback" at seeing Hinkson groaning and stamping her feet as her hands moved.

Burton, who is visually impaired in one eye, told the City of London Magistrates’ court: "I was suddenly aware of a banging noise and I thought it was something mechanical but I noticed that to my right there was a lady who was laying out across three or four seats."

"She was banging her foot against the seat or the glass which was making the noise. All I could see of her hand was the top of her wrist area because the rest of her hand was in her trousers," he said. "It was around her crotch, it was blatantly obvious which part of her body it was. Her hands were moving back and forth in a sort of gyratory movement. She wasn’t saying anything but there were moans and groans of a sexual nature. I was quite taken aback."

Burton told the court Tuesday he contacted police after seeing children in the compartment.

"It was at that point I felt uncomfortable. I thought to myself she is not aware of her surroundings," he said, according to Metro U.K. "I felt that something should be done, that this lady was doing this and she was totally unaware of herself or people around her."

Authorities told the court that Hinkson was mostly unresponsive in her interview. She denied one count of outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner, namely masturbating.

"Rash on my inner thigh, I was scratching a rash on my inner thigh. It comes and goes," she told officers.

However, the magistrates convicted her saying the case had been proved "beyond all reasonable doubt."