Filming during sex without consent is illegal, court rules

FILMING a partner during sex without their consent is a criminal offence of voyeurism, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

The ruling followed an unsuccessful appeal by a man convicted of filming himself having sex with prostitutes.

His lawyers had argued that the voyeurism law allowed him to film them because a bedroom was not a private place if he was there legitimately.

In an unusual move, a complainant not directly involved in the case was allowed to intervene to claim that consent should override privacy in cases under the 2003 Sexual Offences Act – not least given the risk that a video could be shown to a third party.

The unanimous decision by Lord Justice Fulford, Mrs Justice Cheemagrubb and Mrs Justice Foster came at the end of an application by Tony Richards, 39, to have two voyeurism charges dismissed on the grounds that he had committed no crime.

Jon Rees QC, for Richards, told the court that even though the two women may not have consented to being filmed, if Richards was entitled to be in their bedrooms they could not have a reasonable expectation to privacy.

“It may be a betrayal of trust to record a person having sex with you but it’s not an illegal act,” he said.

However, John Price QC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said any consenting partner would have a “reasonable expectation to not being filmed”. And Jude Bunting, the barrister who represented the outside complainant, said: “A video recording could be shown to a third party. It represents complete loss of autonomy over a person’s personal image and integrity.”

The judges ruled that a defendant could be guilty of voyeurism even when they were a participant with the risk that a video could be shown to a third party.