Andrew Bird 55

Description

A sexual 'predator' used a mobile phone to taking intimate upskirting photos of unsuspecting women and girls in Norfolk pubs, a court has heard.

Andrew Bird also used a dog as a way to get pictures, either by taking them when he bent down to stroke the animals or when his victims did so.

Others were targeted in parks or even in homes where he managed to plant recording devices.

Norwich Crown Court was told the 55-year-old had photographed or videoed at 16 victims - none of who can be identified for legal reasons - over a five year period.

Samantha Lowther, prosecuting, said a number of victims were recorded at the White Horse, in Trowse, and the Black Swan, at Horsham St Faith.

She said Bird, a former Anglian Water engineer, would hold his phone under a table and angle it upwards as women came over to speak to him to capture images of their genitals, buttocks and underwear.

Other victims, including teenage girls, were targeted at various locations including Trowse Common, opposite the White Horse, with Bird taking photos up skirts or loose-fitting shorts.

Another child victim had videos of her taken by Bird while she was getting changed in her bedroom.

And on another occasion Bird planted a video in a caravan which was used to capture footage of a woman as she showered and dressed.

Miss Lowther said the images were discovered after police went to Bird's address in 2023 on an unrelated matter.

Officers found he had backed up images and videos taken on his phone to various hard drives and seized a number of devices.

Bird, formerly of Trowse but now of Scotch Hill, Taverham, appeared in court on Monday after admitting 41 offences.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of voyeurism, or observing a person doing a private act and 17 offences of upskirting or recording images under clothing to observe another without consent.

Bird also admitted 18 offences of attempted upskirting, or operating equipment under clothing of another without consent

He also admitted three offences of making indecent images of children.

Bird has also asked for 20 further offences - between 2018 and 2022 - to be taken into consideration, including six outraging public decency offences, seven attempted upskirting offences and seven upskirting offences.

Jailing Bird for 22 months, Judge Jeremy Donne said no female was "safe from you" with the victims in his offending "ranging from 12 to middle aged".
"You went nowhere without that mobile phone ready to take photographs," he said.

Judge Donne said Bird "knew what he was doing" as once he had recorded images on his mobile phone he downloaded them onto hard drives for his own sexual gratification before deleting them.

Before Bird was sentenced the court heard statements from some of the victims in the case who described the suffering the defendant had caused them.

An adult victim whose daughter was also a victim of Bird's said she had been "devastated" to find out what had happened.

She said her family and her children were her "world" and said it was "sickening" what happened. 

Another adult victim said Bird had "abused trust" and "stole innocence" as a result of which she now has to "look over my shoulder" when she goes out.

She said he had committed the offences in "the most devious, deceitful and calculated" way.

Another adult victim said what had happened to her would "be with me forever".

Another victim described how she feels "violated" and the crimes have had "consequences on every party of my life".

Another victim and the mother of another victim - who was 12 and 13 at the time - said she felt "sickened and violated" by what had happened as a result of the actions of this "predator".

Her daughter, now 15, said she had been "completely oblivious" to what was happening and was "shocked".

The husband and father of two victims said the offender had "destroyed lives" and said he had abused his liberty for his twisted and sickening pleasure".

Andrew Oliver, mitigating, said Bird was entitled to full credit for his guilty pleas.

He said he admitted to police there was "voyeuristic" material present on items seized and he was responsible for it. 

Mr Oliver accepted the impact on each victim had been "profound" and he had caused harm to the victims, their families and friends. 

He said Bird, a father of two, whose own daughter now does not speak to him, sold the family home and moved in with his mother.

He had reduced his alcohol intake and accepted he had sexual gratification from the offences. 

Bird was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for 10 years and put on the sex offender's register, also for 10 years.