Upskirting cases double in year before change in law

THE number of upskirting incidents has more than doubled in a year, official figures have shown, although only one in five cases leads to a charge.

Police forces across England and Wales recorded 120 incidents of upskirting in 2018, compared with 56 in 2017, according to information released to The Daily Telegraph under the Freedom of Information Act.

Of these, 24 led to charges of voyeurism or outraging public decency, up from 18 in 2016.

A law making upskirting a specific criminal offence comes into force today. People convicted of taking a photo or video underneath someone’s clothing without their permission face up to two years in prison and being placed on the sex offenders register.

Lucy Frazer, the justice minister, said: “We have always been clear – there are no excuses for this behaviour and offenders should feel the full force of the law. From today, they will.”

She added that she had worked closely with campaigners, including Gina Martin, to ensure people were “protected from this degrading and humiliating practice”.

British Transport Police, meanwhile, recorded 123 incidents of upskirting last year, up from 88 in 2017. Only 12 of those 2018 cases had resulted in a charge.

The change in the law came after reports that women were being targeted at festivals, on public transport and in schools. The photos are shared online. Until now, laws covered only indecency and nudity.

Ms Martin campaigned for the law change after being upskirted at a festival in 2017. “The official statistics never added up for me,” she said. “They didn’t reflect the stories I was hearing from people. We were looking at the tip of the iceberg.”

Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat MP, brought forward the Private Member’s Bill on upskirting. “This obviously should have been law sooner,” she said.

Deputy Chief Constable Sarah Crew, the lead for adult sex offences at the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: “In what is already an under-reported area of crime, we welcome that more victims are coming forward and we encourage anyone who has experienced unwanted sexual behaviour to report it to the police as soon as possible.”