![\"Redbridge](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/1c58\/live\/e83d1910-0113-11f0-9110-3fefe805d8f1.png.webp\")
Redbridge Council<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA former aide to Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been spared jail after exposing himself to a teenage girl and following her.<\/p>\n Sam Gould had previously pleaded guilty to two separate counts of exposure at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court in Ilford.<\/p>\n Earlier, the 33-year-old who was a councillor in Redbridge, east London, was sentenced at the same court to 22 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for two years.<\/p>\n Gould resigned from his councillor role in March after his conviction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gould was seen exposing himself to a 13-year-old girl while he was in his parked car in Romford on 8 March. Gould then followed the girl, who hid and knocked on nearby flats to try to get help, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n He also exposed himself to a woman while he was seated in a Mini Cooper with the windows down on Patricia Drive in Hornchurch on 9 February, Barkingside Magistrates’ Court heard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Speaking of the first offence, prosecutor Jeannel Ambrose said Gould had targeted a “particularly vulnerable victim”.<\/p>\n The prosecutor added that the second victim, who had been walking her dog at the time felt “distressed and violated”.<\/p>\n She took his vehicle registration before reporting him to police, Ms Ambrose said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nicholas Jennaway, defending, said Gould had been going through difficulties at work and his personal life at the time of the incidents.<\/p>\n Mr Jennaway said that Gould followed the girl in a “very panicked state” to try to talk to her, having not seen her approaching.<\/p>\n He said that Gould, a “shy, introverted person” and a man of previous good character, “apologises profusely” for the harm caused.<\/p>\n Gould accepts that his role in public service means he is held to a “higher standard”, Mr Jennaway said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gould was suspended from the Labour Party when he was arrested, however he remained a councillor as there was “no process in place” at Redbridge Council to remove him from office.<\/p>\n Streeting had called for his former assistant to resign, saying: “There are no excuses for his appalling behaviour. I am calling for him, again, to resign as a Redbridge councillor immediately.”<\/p>\n Gould stood down after he had admitted the offences in court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n‘Distressed and violated’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n