Locations
Fenwick Road, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11
Description
A woman told police she was ‘appalled’ after intimate videos of her taken 18 years ago without her permission were found in the possession of a serial child sex offender.
The videos were found in the possession of 87-year-old Alan Barclay of Fenwick Road, Falmouth who had recently been released from prison following a conviction for the possession of hundreds of vile child rape and bestiality pictures and videos
He appeared for trial at Truro Magistrates Court in handcuffs from Exeter Prison on Wednesday, where he’d been recalled following the discovery. He pleaded not guilty to one charge of voyeurism relating to 2006.
As previously reported by the Packet, Barclay was sentenced to 21 months in prison at the crown court in 2022, after the judge heard discs were found at his home with a large quantity of pictures and videos of children being abused, including 285 videos and 64 images of Category A - the most severe category of child abuse.
He had previously been convicted of a similar offence in 2019 but had escaped prison after he was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, which prevented him from using a computer or devices capable of connecting to the internet.
The court heard in March last year police went to Mr Barclay’s address in Falmouth as part of a routine visit after he was released from prison for his original offence as part of his bail conditions.
They carried out a search of his home and found CDs in racks in his “office” upstairs. When police looked at them they found six intimate videos of a woman that appeared to have been taken secretly. They also found many more child sex pictures and videos.
They identified the woman who told them she’d been totally unaware they had been taken.
One of the officers involved in the prosecution told the court that when they told the woman what they’d found she was horrified and devastated.
“She had no idea she’d been filmed,” she said. “Because of the type of lady she was, she was a classy lady, I think she would have been horrified that I’d seen that video.”
In a statement given to the police the woman said she was appalled by what had happened. She said had never sent any intimate videos of herself to Barclay or anyone.
Barclay took to the stand in court, without any representation from a solicitor.
He told the magistrates: “I’d like to say that I have been totally honest right from the first time I was arrested.
“I do not tell lies. I was brought up under the influence of my grandfather, who was a sergeant major in the army. He instilled in me to allows tell the truth.”
Barclay claimed the videos had been transferred from the camera onto a disc in bulk, along with a lot of other pictures that he had taken on holiday.
He also claimed to the court that he was impotent and “had no feeling whatsoever”, so had been unable to gain sexual gratification for “probably 17 years now”.
He concluded his evidence by saying: “If I go back to prison it would be a life sentence. I’ve been in the prison hospital for a month and I’m very poorly, and I’m not getting better.”
He denied to the prosecutor that the real reason he had downloaded the images onto a disc was so they wouldn’t be found.
“I have never been a voyeur of anybody,” he added.
However, the panel of three magistrates found him guilty of the charge, saying they found Barclay “to be deceitful” and his evidence not credible.
It was agreed to transfer Barclay to the crown court for sentencing next week.