Ulster star of The Voice guilty of exposing himself to 12-year-old girl

A gagging order on the media was lifted this week as Anderson, a star of the BBC talent show, was found guilty of exposing himself in view of a 12-year-old girl.

The Sunday World can reveal this is not his first conviction, he had previously been given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to a raft of sex offences last year when he admitted secretly recording women for his own sexual gratification.

Last week the 31-year-old stood trial at Belfast Crown Court on a charge of ‘committing an act of lewd, obscene and disgusting nature and outraging public decency”.

He was accused and found guilty of performing a sex act while sitting in a parked car in view of the public in June 2018.

A reporting restriction meant the media was banned from covering the case until a verdict was reached due to his previous conviction.

The trial started on Monday and concluded on Friday when the jury returned a ‘guilty’ verdict after deliberating for just over two hours.

The panel of eight men and four women rejected Anderson’s claim that he wasn’t performing a sex act in his mother’s sports car but simply strumming his miniature guitar.

The County Down singer has previously been given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to a raft of sex offences.

He admitted secretly recording women for his own sexual gratification and also pleaded guilty to sexual assault and assault.

At the time one of his victims said she was "heartbroken" at the sentence.

The charges came after he competed in two prime-time TV singing shows - Andrew Lloyd Webber's Superstar, in 2012, and The Voice in 2014.

Anderson also toured with a UK production of Jesus Christ Superstar following his appearances in Superstar.

Laganside court was told that Anderson had also performed on cruise ships, after being charged with the sexual offences.

The court was told he now wrote jingles and musical pieces for his father's advertising agency, and that work "remains open to him".

Anderson admitted recording 11 females doing a private act, knowing that they did not consent to being recorded, between April 2005 and August 2013.

The defendant admitted sexually assaulting one of his victims in 2012, and assaulting another woman, occasioning actual bodily harm, in 2015.

The court was also told that Anderson had a medical condition which led to issues with erectile dysfunction.

It was heard he had started recording the women to "help with arousal".

The judge said Anderson had acted in a "coercive and controlling manner".

He added that the victims had been "subverted by him, as a means of achieving sexual gratification".

The judge said the fact some victims had been recorded going to the toilet, "exacerbated the gross invasion of privacy".

The judge then sentenced Anderson to three years in prison, suspended for three years.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register.

Following last weeks unanimous verdict, Judge Neil Rafferty QC told Anderson he will be sentenced on December 3.