Description
A convicted sex offender covertly attached a tiny camera to a woman's clothing so he could secretly film "upskirt" videos of her.
The illicitly filmed footage was found on Brian Cocker's mobile phone, along with a stash of child porn material filed as "Candid Teens." Cocker, 36, was banned from playparks and other areas frequented by children as part of a conduct order imposed at Perth Sheriff Court.
He was told to carry out 200 hours unpaid community work and was placed on the Sex Offenders Register and under social work supervision for three years. The court was told that the spycam material - which clearly identified a female known to Cocker - was found during a routine visit by police officers.
Cocker, from Perth, admitted that between 20 April and 19 July 2021 he operated equipment beneath a woman's clothing to enable himself to observe her genitals, buttocks or underwear. He admitted doing it to obtain images of her bending over and trying to photograph her genital area without her knowledge or consent.
He also admitted a charge of having indecent images of children between 25 November 2020 and 24 July 2021. Cocker was first placed on the Sex Offenders Register in 2014 for grooming a 15-year-old girl for sex in a course of conduct which led to him being jailed for ten months.
He plied the youngster with alcohol during "frequent" sessions, despite knowing she was under-age. Fiscal depute Elizabeth Hodgson said police called on Cocker at home and he handed over his mobile, containing the folder of sickening child porn images.
The children depicted were as young as 14, and a further probe found the voyeuristic pictures of the woman who had been "upskirted" by Cocker.
Solicitor Linda Clark, defending, said: "He has been engaging with the Stop It Now programme, of his own volition, attending 30 sessions on a voluntary basis. He has expressed significant regret and remorse. Mr Cocker has a previous conviction for similar behaviour from 2014. For ten years he has managed not to engage in that kind of offending.
"He appreciates that had the previous case been more recent, a custodial sentence would have been inevitable, but it has been ten years and there are alternatives available."
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC: "I note from the reports before me that you are at medium risk of sexual reoffending. You will have been made aware that a custodial sentence was at the forefront of my mind."