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A man who was caught taking upskirt photos of a woman at Bank station has been jailed for 10 days.
Upskirting – the act of placing a camera or phone under a person’s clothes to take a photo without their permission – was made illegal as part of the Voyeurism (Offences) Act in England and Wales in 2019. Those prosecuted under the act can be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison.
Martin Stone, 62, was caught on CCTV stalking a woman through Bank station before standing behind her on an escalator and filming up her skirt on August 4. A plain-clothes police officer followed him out of the station and found him reviewing the footage, at which point he was arrested.
The next morning, Stone was taken to Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court where he was sentenced to 10 days in prison and ordered to pay £213 in court costs and fees. He had been carrying two phones, a spy camera pen, two oyster cards and a camera at the time of his arrest and admitted to having taped over the flash on his phone to avoid being caught. Magistrates ordered all sim cards and memory storage devices in his equipment to be destroyed.
Detective Chief Inspector Sarah White of the British Transport Police said: ‘Stone’s vile predatory behaviour is evident from his targeted actions and specialist equipment. Upskirting is a sickening invasion of privacy and this result sends a clear message on how quickly we will act against this disgusting form of sexual offending.
‘We have plainclothes officers conducting patrols like this every day across the network. Our officers are on the network looking out for you, whether you see them or not, and we will take action.’
White added that victims of upskirting or any other sexual offence could text police discreetly on 61016 or call 999 in an emergency: ‘No report is too small or too trivial, we will always take you seriously.’
Stone’s conviction is proof that the law is working and marks a big step forward from two years ago when victims were unable to prosecute those who took upskirt photos of them. Figures for the first 12 months since the law was introduced showed that 16 men were convicted of 48 offences, with those offences taking place in supermarkets, shops, on public transport, in the street and, in one instance, at a school.