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‘Serial upskirter’ caught with videos of more than 500 women, police say

Suspect is ‘one of the largest predators of women’s privacy,’ Spanish police says

Chiara Giordano
Thursday 22 August 2019 10:16 BST
Man arrested on train in Madrid accused of upskirting more than 500 women

A man was arrested on a train in Madrid after allegedly upskirting more than 500 women.

The 53-year-old Colombian suspect allegedly filmed up his victims’ skirts without their knowledge using a mobile phone concealed in a backpack.

Spain’s National Police have identified 555 victims, including some described as “underage”.

The man, described by police as “one of the largest predators of women’s privacy”, is accused of publishing 283 videos to pornographic websites where they have been viewed millions of times.

Police allege he filmed his victims “compulsively and almost daily” in busy places such as the capital’s Metro system and trains before following them into the street or supermarket to continue recording.

Some of the victims are also said to have had their faces filmed.

Detectives raided the man’s home after discovering hundreds of videos filmed in Madrid on a “pornographic web portal” with more than 20 million followers.

They found three hard drives and a laptop computer containing dozens of gigabytes of videos.

Police discovered that 29 victims were recorded in just five days – some of them minors.

It is believed the man first began publishing the videos to the website in July 2018 – but it is not known whether he may have committed earlier crimes.

The man has been remanded in custody.

Upskirting - the act of taking a photo up someone’s skirt without their permission - became a criminal offence England and Wales punishable by up to two years in prison earlier this year.

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The Voyeurism (Offences) (No.2) Bill, known as the “Upskirting Bill” received Royal Assent on 12 February, following an 18-month campaign by activist Gina Martin.

The Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 officially came into force on 12 April.

In Spain, upskirting is considered sexual abuse and is punishable with prison.

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