A homeless man caught having sex with a woman in the middle of the day on Furniss Island in Truro has been returned to jail by magistrates in Truro.

Richard Percival, 34, who is in the care of St Petrocs on City Road, was spotted by staff at the Radio Cornwall offices in June and sent to prison for 126 days at Truro Magistrates’ Court.

He appeared before the bench on Wednesday where he admitted to failing to comply with an order for curfew following his release, after his monitoring equipment could not be fitted to him, and also admitted breaching a licensed supervision order.

Brendan Gough, probation officer, said Percival was sent to prison for 16 weeks by a court in March for a number of offences including assaulting a police officer, which led to licensed supervision following his release.

Because in June he had been convicted of committing a public outrage by his sexual activity in the island gardens, he was recalled to prison, and when released again, failed to keep obligatory supervision appointments.

He had been put under curfew for three months for the public outrage offence, and when curfew staff went to his address to fit monitoring equipment, twice he was too drunk for it to happen, and on three other occasions did not make himself available.

He was evicted from supported accommodation in Newquay because he did not comply with house rules, and misconduct, and since then had been homeless.

Robin Smith, his solicitor, said Percival lived in a rather confused world, and drink was his long-standing enemy. When he came out of prison finally, he thought the slate was clean, and could not understand the reason for curfew.

Percival’s prison sentence included re-sentencing for his public outrage offence.