Man placed on sex offenders register for sex with bike

The Daily Telegraph reports on a bizarre case in which a man
staying at a hostel was surprised by workers with a master key, having
sex with a bicycle. He has been placed on the sex offenders register,
despite apparently indulging in his practices in private with an
inanimate object. I am wondering how this is different from using, say,
a vibrator or blow-up doll? Do people in hostels have no right to
privacy?
The real killer paragraph is the last one – apparently someone was
jailed in 1993 for having sex with the pavement – or sidewalk in US
English.