Flasher Ralph Glen Ireland bailed despite 40 years of exposure Ralph Glen Ireland / Pic: Bradley Hunter Source: The Daily Telegraph A SERIAL exhibitionist with convictions for exposure dating back 40 years is out on bail after appealing against his latest conviction - for a lewd act in front of children on the Manly ferry. Ralph Glen Ireland, 61, from Manly, was sentenced in Windsor Court on Wednesday to seven months in jail after being found guilty of two counts of committing an act of indecency in front of a child aged under 10. The court heard he committed the offences while on a five-year good behaviour bond for a conviction of wilful and obscene exposure in front of two schoolgirls on a train. A court heard last year that Ireland had been convicted of 11 similar offences dating back to 1973. "There is a very lengthy history," Magistrate Margot Stubbs said. In an earlier bail application, police argued the community would be at risk if he was granted bail, citing the "ongoing and repetitive nature" of his offending and his targeting of increasingly younger victims, saying he was "clearly not able to control his behaviour." The court on Wednesday heard that two sisters had alerted their father to Ireland's behaviour aboard a Manly to Circular Quay ferry on October 21 last year. Police arrived and found Ireland, who had changed into different clothing, on the top floor of the ferry. Prosecutor Jot Mehta told the court Ireland was "in denial" about his offending. "We now have a situation where he's exposed himself to girls aged under 10," he said. Ireland's 86-year-old widowed mother Edith Ireland told the court she had only recently understood her son was suffering from Asperger's syndrome. "I think my son has been crying out for help for the last 41 years," she said. She said her son was tied to a tree by four boys and sexually assaulted at age seven. "I never saw him smile again, honestly," she said. Ireland is the managing director of Moorebank engineering company Flame Coatings. His solicitor Michael Foley said Ireland was suffering from Asperger's syndrome, depression and alcohol abuse, which "clearly affects his decision-making ability." Ms Stubbs rejected an application to deal with him under the Mental Health Act, saying Ireland's conduct was "quite disturbing and ongoing." While awaiting his appeal, Ireland is banned from associating with anyone aged under 18 and from leaving the house without his elderly mother, except for when travelling by direct route to work in the city. It also stops him from travelling on the ferry, except between the hours of 6am to 7am, and 5pm to 6pm.