A serial pervert has volunteered to take a form of “chemical castration” in a desperate bid to suppress his deviant desires for children.

John Robert Gibson admitted exposing himself in front of a kids aged between 10 and 12 as they played in a park.

The 44-year-old actively sought out the children and hid behind some shrubbery to prey upon them, Teesside Live reports.

Gibson later emerged from the bushes and exposed his genitals before touching himself in front of the children.

The pervert was able to grab the coat of one of the fleeing children who kicked out at him before getting away.

This came two days after he was released from jail on February 8 last year for exposing himself in front of children on a separate occasion.

The serial flasher has been found guilty for string of sexual offences against children

A public protection officer immediately knew where Gibson was after the latest incident in Middlesbrough and he was arrested at a hostel.

At first he denied being the culprit, despite being identified by two of the victims.

Gibson, of no fixed address, admitted sexual activity in the presence of a child at Teesside Crown Court and breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) by having contact with children .

He denied a charge of child abduction, which was left to lie on the court file.

He had a string of previous convictions and prison sentences for having thousands of indecent images of children, exposing himself and taking part in sexual activity in front of children in 2011, 2014 and 2016.

In his last sentence, he was deemed a dangerous offender and given an extended sentence.

Rod Hunt, defending, said Gibson showed remorse in his guilty pleas, but he was not diagnosed with any mental disorder.

Gibson told Teesside Crown Court that he would be willing to take medication to suppress his sexual urges, which was described as "chemical castration"

He said: "Clearly a layperson would think this defendant is mentally ill.

"But medically he's not mentally ill. Clearly the regimes he'd been on in courses haven't been enough to suppress his libido.

"He's not been in a relationship for a number of years. What triggered his offending was a bereavement in 2004.

"He became a bit of a loner."

He also told how a psychiatrist raised the possibility of Gibson taking testosterone-suppressing medication in custody.

John Robert Gibson has volunteered to take medication to stop his sexual urges for children

He added: "This type of treatment is not used frequently in the UK. Mr Gibson would be assessed.

"Mr Gibson publicly now says he would volunteer for that treatment.

"He doesn't want to put any member of the public through what the families in the public gallery have gone through due to his own physical inability to control himself.

"If drugs can help that - I suppose it can be called chemical castration - he would volunteer for that course.

"He's not an unintelligent person. He does know his own weaknesses. If those weaknesses can be controlled by medication, he will take it and will volunteer to take it."

Judge Armstrong said that Gibson remained a danger to the public

He also said: "It's a troubling case because it may be members of the public will be thinking 'what if', but we can't sentence on probabilities.

"We can only sentence on what actions happened.”

Judge Peter Armstrong said he was satisfied Gibson went to the park "quite deliberately to seek out children because of your propensity to act in the way that you do".

He noted that Gibson grabbed a child's coat: "I take it as a very aggravating factor that you were prepared to do that.

"Fortunately he was able to get away. It's perhaps not to speculate what might have happened.

"Clearly you remain a danger to the public, children in particular."

He gave Gibson his second extended sentence totalling seven years and three months.

This comprises a jail term of three years and three months, plus four years' extra licence.

Gibson is still under a SHPO and on the sex offenders' register, both indefinitely, and is barred from working with children.