Peter Anthony Turnbull showed two girls, 12 and 14, pornographic image as they shopped for shoes

The 51-year-old smirked after showing two underage girls a pornographic image as they shopped in a Toowoomba store.

A 51-year-old father of four with a penchant for committing indecent acts in public has been handed a jail term and told to clean up his act.

Peter Anthony Turnbull had followed two girls, aged 12 and 14, into a Toowoomba Lifeline store where the girls were shopping with their grandmother on January 11, Toowoomba District Court heard.

As the girls looked at shoes, Turnbull dropped an explicit pornographic magazine page beside them, Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told the court.

The girls looked up to see Turnbull standing beside a clothes rack with a smirk on his face, she said.

Peter Anthony Turnbull has been told to get help for his issues or face remaining in jail.

The girls went to their grandmother but by the time she confronted Turnbull the offensive image had been removed, the court heard.

Ms Petrie said this incident, on its own, was not the most serious but around the same time Turnbull had exposed his penis to a woman in Toowoomba’s CBD while remarking about her breasts.

And, he had also been convicted of stalking a woman hairdresser who, at one point, he had followed to her car while remarking about her bottom, she said.

Turnbull, who had been returned to prison on a parole suspension, appeared in custody to plead guilty to one count of indecent treatment of a child under 16 relating to the Lifeline incident.

The court heard Turnbull was serving out a seven month jail term for the other offences which had a full-time date of August 16.

From the dock, Turnbull made an impassioned apology to Judge Jennifer Rosengren, saying he had children of his own and was ashamed of what he had done.

Judge Jennifer Rosengren warned the 51-year-old he faced staying in jail if he didn’t change his ways.

However, Judge Rosengren said going by his history, she was not sure how much weight to place on that apology and noted to date he had not accepted the help offered to him by probation and other officers to deal with his issues.

“You’re a pest, and you’re a 51-year-old pest,” Judge Rosengren told him.

“You either stop this, or we’re just going to have to keep you in jail.

“You imagine if your kids were shown those photographs, this is really, really appalling.”

Judge Rosengren said she was putting remarks on the record so probation authorities would understand if Turnbull did not accept help and address his issues he was to be brought back before the court and expected to go to jail.

“The community is sick and tired of this sort of conduct,” she warned him.

Taking into account the 41 days he had spent in custody, Judge Rosengren sentenced Turnbull to a prison/probation term of two and a half months’ jail and two years probation.

Originally published as Peter Anthony Turnbull showed two girls, 12 and 14, pornographic image as they shopped for shoes