Jail term for soft play company boss who used 'peepholes' to film women in toilets and changing rooms
'He goes up to the swimming pool, sees the kids, sees them using the facilities, stalks them to the shower area and stalks them to the cubicle area and uses the cubicle next to them'
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Your support makes all the difference.The co-founder of a children’s soft play company – unmasked as a serial voyeur when two 14-year-old girls saw the iPhone he was using to film them underneath their changing cubicle – has been jailed for 16 months.
Darren Johnson, who set up the Eddie Catz chain with his wife Maria, used “peepholes” to film women getting undressed in toilets and changing rooms at a leisure centre popular with the parents of young children, Kingston Crown Court had heard ahead of Wednesday’s sentencing.
The married father-of-two “stalked” schoolgirls attending swimming lessons before using his mobile phone to film from under their cubicles while they changed.
The 51-year-old, from Putney in southwest London, was finally caught when the two 14-year-olds spotted his smartphone under the adjoining cubicle and raised the alarm.
He was identified from CCTV footage and police seized two computers containing hundreds of images of women in various states of undress from his home.
Johnson in July admitted five counts of voyeurism, committed over 12 years – between January 1, 2005 and June 5, 2017 – although his barrister, Tom Williams, said his client’s offending occurred over “a few months” in 2007 and a second period in 2016 and 2017.
Mr Williams backtracked on claims Mr Johnson had not meant to film teenagers after prosecutors refused to accept the assertion.
“There is CCTV which shows the defendant stalking children around the leisure centre. He attended the leisure centre at times when schools have swim classes,” prosecutor Lauren Sales said.
“He goes up to the swimming pool, sees the kids, sees them using the facilities, stalks them to the shower area and stalks them to the cubicle area and uses the cubicle next to them.
“There was a 12-year-old he was following as well. It is all shown very clearly on the CCTV.”
The court heard no charges were brought in relation to the 12-year-old.
Ms Sales said: “At the time of the offences he was the director of Eddie Catz, which are soft play centres for young children.”
The number of victims is not known, but a police officer involved in the case estimated it could be around 40.
Judge Andrew Campbell said: “We are certainly running into the tens, twenties and possibly very many more.”
Johnson resigned from Eddie Catz as soon as the allegations came to light and has not been listed as a director since September.
The company has centres in Earlsfield, Putney, Wimbledon and Newbury, as well as a presence in branches of Mothercare in Leeds, Gateshead, Manchester, Solihull and Cribbs Causeway, near Bristol.
Johnson’s lawyer said his client had enjoyed a successful sporting career which saw him travel to Italy, but was tormented by alcohol issues and marriage troubles after he suffered an injury.
“He accepts what he did was completely wrong and now he is able to think through it in a way that makes a bit more sense, he is truly sorry for what he has done and has done everything he can to address those things in his life which pushed him into an extremely dark place in that period.”
Mr Williams said Johnson had attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and classes for sex addicts since being arrested.
Two of the voyeurism charges related to the filming of the 14-year-old girls and a third related to images of women taken under cubicles at the leisure centre.
Two further charges related to images of women taken through “peepholes” and under cubicles in toilets and changing rooms at the soft play centre.
On Wednesday Johnson was sentenced to four months for the two voyeurism counts related to the 14-year-old girls, to run concurrently, and consecutive four-month terms for the other three voyeurism offences, making a total of 16 months.
Additional reporting from Press Association
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