A retail security officer spotted a man filming up women’s skirts, magistrates heard.
The man, Saleh Al-Majali (53) of Queens Town Road, Battersea, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, January 16. Police said that the man did the offences across London during a two-year period, at locations including the Tube, at shops and at rail stations. Two laptops and eight mini discs seized from Al-Majali’s home address contained more than 200 videos of such footage.
The court sentenced him to 12 weeks in prison suspended for 18 months, and gave him a 12 month supervision order to attend a sexual offenders’ programme and a two-year Anti-Social Behaviour Order, which prohibits him from having in his possession, in any public place, any device designed for or capable of capturing an image, including any form of camera, camcorder and camera-equipped mobile telephone.
Unemployed Al-Majali was caught filming up women’s skirts by using cameras hidden inside his rucksack at a shop in Victoria Station, at around 1pm on Tuesday, July 31, 2012. The store’s security guard noticed him behaving suspiciously and saw Al-Majali place his rucksack on the floor next to women to film up their skirts.
He called police and followed Al-Majali on board a Victoria line Tube from Victoria to Green Park Station, where he was arrested by BTP officers. Inside the rucksack was a camcorder, two mini cameras and a Blackberry mobile phone, all containing footage taken up women’s skirts. In his police interview Al-Majali confessed that he had been filming up women’s skirts since 2010. He pleaded guilty at a previous hearing in November 2012 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to one count of committing an act of outraging public decency.
Speaking after the sentence, British Transport Police (BTP) Chief Supt Paul Brogden said: “While this type of offence is extremely rare, it is very upsetting for victims and completely unacceptable.
“Everyone has the right to not only be safe but also feel safe when they travel.
“Anyone who knows or suspects they have been a victim of an offence like this should report it immediately to police or a member of Tube staff.
“Police want to know about every single incident like this as it helps to build a picture of an offender’s behaviour and establish their pattern of travel across the network.
“Once a pattern of behaviour has been established police patrols can be increased and CCTV evidence secured, leading to an increased likelihood of arrest and conviction.”
