Husband filmed up shoppers’ skirts on sly

‘BORED’ PERVERT SPIED ON WOMEN IN SUPERMARKETS

A ‘bored’ pervert hid a camera inside a motorbike helmet to secretly film up women’s skirts.

Married Christopher Cole used his GoPro to record unsuspecting females in large stores such as Asda, in Cowpen, Blyth, Northumberland, over a 10-month period.

A court was told the 38-year-old, who works as an IT managing consultant, made 59 recordings – 27 of which were of women’s bottoms – but the number could have been higher as he admitted in interview to deleting some footage.

He was finally caught out when he was spotted by a shopper, who reported him to Asda security.

Police were called and Cole was arrested, before officers seized the GoPro camera from his home address in Dukes Gardens, Blyth.

Now, the pervert is facing a prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to one count of outraging public decency during a hearing at South East Northumberland Magistrates’ Court.

Clare Irving, prosecuting, said Cole was initially caught in the act at around 3.15pm in Asda on July 14 but wasn’t arrested until he returned three days later.

She said: “The defendant was stopped in Asda, in Cowpen, but, it’s fair to say, the footage is taken in different locations, capturing images of women’s bottoms.

“A member of public approached security in Asda on July 17 because there was a male who appeared to be filming up ladies’ skirts. The defendant is seen with a motorcycle helmet that is upturned and it’s got a GoPro inside and the lights are flashing on it to say footage is being captured.

“He deliberately moves the GoPro towards bottoms. He appears to be scanning the store for victims.”

The court heard Cole was approached by security and had selected very few items to buy, considering he had been in the supermarket for half an hour.

He left the store but security guards noted down his vehicle’s registration and passed on the details to police. Christopher Cole leaves Bedlington Magistrates Court

However, at 8pm on July 17, Cole returned to the shop to film more women.

Ms Irving added: “He’s stopped by security for an unrelated matter and the police are contacted. Officers attended and downloaded footage from the defendant and they go to his home address and his GoPro is seized.”

In interview, Cole, who has no previous convictions, said he had been capturing footage since September 2016 but had deleted some of the recordings once he watched them.

He told officers: “Boredom set in and I did it to see what I would get. Initially, I did it to see if I could get up-skirt shots of attractive females.”

Ian Hudson, mitigating, said Cole also worked as a senior support engineer and had never been in trouble before.

The solicitor added: “The catalyst for this offending was marital problems and, I’m pleased to say, they’ve now halted.”

District Judge Bernard Begley adjourned the case for the preparation of a pre-sentence report. Cole was released on unconditional bail to next appear back at the same court on November 30. The Asda Superstore on Cowpen Road in Blyth