A 39-year-old Warrington man who took more than 1,000 indiscreet pictures of women using a camera phone has been jailed for two years.
Andrew Mackie, of Brick Street, Warrington was jailed for breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) when he appeared at Liverpool Crown Court.
The court heard that Mackie was spotted on board a train from Preston to Wigan by a plain clothes British Transport Police officer.
He was taken off the train at Wigan for a routine stop check and was found to be in possession of a camera phone – something the SOPO prevents him from carrying. An examination of the phone revealed Mackie had taken more than 1,000 indiscreet images of women.
Sergeant Andy Tomkins, of BTP, said: “SOPOs are designed to protect the public and anyone who breaches the orders can expect to be put before the courts.
“Mackie used a camera phone to take pictures of unsuspecting women and in doing so not only breached his order, but violated his victim’s privacy – in most cases certainly without their knowledge.
“The two-year sentence should serve as a real warning to others that the police and the court service take a dim view of anyone who goes against the regulations of a SOPO.”
A 39-year-old Warrington man who took more than 1,000 indiscreet
pictures of women using a camera phone has been jailed for two years.
Man took 1,000 covert pictures of women
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
3 Comments
Why is it illegal to take pictures but not to be videoed from every angle by CCTV cameras all over the country? Seems a bit strange to me!!
Because he’s a convicted pervert with an order against him. Before they let him out maybe they could perform some surgery to prevent him doing this again.
Bill, I wasn’t trying to be funny with the question, it just seems strange that a man can be jailed for taking pictures of people in a public place (unless he was using covert type spy equipment) and yet woman are videoed every day and photographed (just look at flickr, facebook, photobucket etc). He appears to have been arrested and charged because he was carrying a camera phone which breached his control order. I just find it hard to believe that someone can take a 1000 pictures of women indiscreetly with a camera phone.