A COUPLE who committed a sexual act in front of children in broad daylight on a Newport street have avoided jail.

Cardiff Crown Court heard today how Steven Biggs and Donna Jenkins had got engaged on September 24 last year and "emotions got the better of them".

Prosecutor Claire Pickthall said the incident happened on a residential street in Newport at around 3.50pm.

Children as young as five years old noticed Jenkins, aged 26, performing a sexual act on 31-year-old Biggs, the court heard.

Despite being asked by a woman to stop the pair carried on, Ms Pickthall added.

She said the defendants only stopped after they were shouted at by a man.

Police were called, but only Jenkins was initially arrested.

When questioned by police, Jenkins, of Cormorant Way in Duffryn, said: "We were just messing around. I was just biting his belly" - an account later backed by Biggs during interview.

Adam Sharp, defending Biggs, said the pair offered a "farcical" explanation when initially questioned by officers.

He said Biggs, also of Cormorant Way in Duffryn, had proposed to Jenkins earlier that day and alcohol had been consumed.

Mr Sharp said: "This was not pre-meditated. It seemed their emotions got the better of them.

"[Biggs] was unaware of the presence of children."

Timothy Hartland, defending Jenkins, said his client was "hyped up" after seeing Biggs for the first time in a month.

But he added this was no justification for her actions, and said Jenkins was "embarrassed and humiliated" at what she had done.

Biggs and Jenkins pleaded guilty to public indecency at a plea and case management hearing earlier this month.

Recorder Huw Rees said: "If people behave this way in public we might as well have the law of the jungle."

Sentencing the pair, he added: "You have no decency about you at all. You should be thoroughly ashamed of what you did in public.

"This was a blatant act in public and you continued that act after being warned.

"You've come very close to going to prison."

Mr Rees sentenced them to six months in prison but suspended it for 12 months.

Biggs was told to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work, told he would be supervised for 12 months, and told to undergo a thinking skills programme.

Jenkins was given 12 months' supervision.

Both will have to pay a victim surcharge of £80, and costs of £250 each.