Perverted Lancashire school caretaker secretly watched young 11- to 14-year-old girls undress on CCTV
A perverted school caretaker who secretly watched young girls undress on CCTV while they were taking part in a dance show has been jailed.
Stuart Martin, 50, watched the underage girls while they were getting changed between sets at the event, which was being held at a school in East Lancashire in early 2023. Martin - who was the school's site manager - was part of organising the event and agreed with the leader of the dance group that the girls could get changed in the corridor as it would be quicker.
He did not disclose that there was a camera in the corridor. He was only caught when the school's IT manager saw that one of the terminals was reviewing CCTV of that corridor. Martin, of Preston Old Road, Blackburn, Lancs., was sentenced to 14 months in prison.
Addressing Martin when sentencing, Judge Ian Unsworth, said: "It's clear the school and the trust took their responsibilities as to CCTV very seriously indeed. You signed a CCTV agreement in November 2022, three months before your admitted offending.
"Within that, you agreed to comply with various conditions, including agreeing to report any safeguarding or GDPR concerns to the IT team. You agreed that whilst using the system, you would comply with all trust policies and procedures. Your actions showed a complete and flagrant disregard for those rules.
"When you were challenged by the IT manager, you immediately sought to lie your way out of it.”
Preston Crown Court heard the majority of the performers in the show were girls under the age of 16, and the age of the girls Martin watched was between 11 and 14. He was only caught when the school's IT manager was remotely shutting down the computer terminals in the school.
They observed that the CCTV was being fast-forwarded, rewound, and paused for around 20 minutes. The IT manager then informed the school's regional estates manager and the headteacher, with the former arriving at the school at around 5pm that day.
He saw Martin at reception and told him there had been a safeguarding issue, to which Martin replied: "That's worrying." Martin was arrested that evening and denied the offence when interviewed the next day.
He claimed he was worried the dance group were causing damage and that's why he checked the CCTV, but said he stopped watching when he realised what was going on. One parent said in a victim personal statement: "He should not be able to walk around thinking he's got away with it. I hope he's learned his lesson and I hope he never does this to anyone else."
Emma Kehoe, in mitigation, said Martin had "absolutely learned his lesson" and has "started his own rehabilitation by admitting what he has done." She added the offences were committed more than two-and-a-half years ago and there has been no other offending since.
Judge Unsworth also said: "The statements from the parents speak in very strong terms of the disgust they feel at your actions." Martin also received a sexual harm prevention order was imposed for a period of 10 years, and he must sign the sex offenders' register also for 10 years.