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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Sam Russell

Photographer jailed for secretly filming aspiring models in changing rooms

PA Wire

A photographer has been jailed for secretly filming dozens of aspiring young models in changing rooms, with police appealing for dozens more unidentified victims to come forward.

David Glover, of Edelweiss View, Tallington, Lincolnshire, set up covert cameras in a private area of the studio he hired where clients got changed from their outdoor clothes into what they were wearing for the shoot.

The 48-year-old admitted five counts of voyeurism over images of 35 victims who have been identified from footage that was seized and viewed by police, after a woman reported her concerns to them.

But 72 more people in the footage have yet to be identified and police are appealing for them to come forward.

Francesca Rowden, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she “felt really sick” when it emerged that Glover had secretly recorded her.

Speaking after he was jailed for 20 months at Peterborough Crown Court on Monday, she said: “To see him, I kind of wanted to be really angry but he just didn’t seem to show any remorse.

“He was just eyes down, even when we were standing up reading our statements and crying he didn’t seem to show any emotion at all.

“I just think maybe he could have maybe got a bit more.

“I’ve seen how this has affected a lot of the girls.

“Only being able to give him 20 months is a bit of a kick of the teeth.

“We need to find the rest of the girls now.

“If this can get out and we can find those we’ll come down hard on him again.”

Glover was initially charged with voyeurism in respect of four named women and 103 unidentified adult females.

But after press coverage of court hearings, more women came forward and the fifth count – of 103 unidentified women – was amended to a schedule of 31 named women.

Glover could face further court proceedings if some of the 72 women who have still not been identified come forward.

Ms Rowden said she has since “stepped back” from the modelling industry, adding: “And I wouldn’t probably get back into it ever today.”

Detective Constable Pete Wise, of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, appealed for anyone who thinks they may be among the 72 unidentified women to come forward.

“You need the justice that you deserve, the same as the victims today have got their justice,” he said.

Thomas Brown, prosecuting, said Glover hired studio space in a Cambridgeshire village in 2014 to photograph “a model who wished to further her career”.

He said the woman’s partner attended with her “to hold the bags, so to speak” and he “noticed in the changing room an alarm clock that looked remarkably out of context”.

He found it was a covert camera and that the memory card in it had footage of his partner getting changed.

The woman confronted Glover and he claimed the studio proprietor had been “accusing him of taking things from the changing rooms and the camera was a security measure designed to demonstrate that that wasn’t the case”.

The woman accepted the explanation and apology at the time, and did not make a report to police, but did so later in 2019 after she “worried about what happened” and “how far these images had gone”.

She had also heard “rumours of the defendant’s behaviour towards clients”, Mr Brown said.

He feels guilt, shame and disgust at his behaviour
— Mohammed Latif

Glover was charged after a police investigation uncovered footage of people in changing rooms, and he later admitted his guilt.

Several of the women attended court to read their victim impact statements and the bearded, grey-haired defendant looked at the floor and did not meet their gaze as he listened from the secure dock.

Mohammed Latif, mitigating, said Glover was of previous good character.

He said that the “bulk of the victims” were recorded in 2014 to 2016, with one recorded in 2013 and one in 2017.

“He feels guilt, shame and disgust at his behaviour,” he said.

Judge Matthew Lowe said Glover turned a hobby into a business after the breakdown of his marriage in 2011 and began work as a professional photographer.

He said it was “clearly planned offending” over at least four years, and some of the women in the footage appeared “completely naked”.

He sentenced Glover to 20 months in prison.

The defendant was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register, was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years, and his electronic devices used in the offending were confiscated.

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