Pervert jailed after taking hundreds of pictures of bottoms

LONER CLAIMED SNAPS OF WOMEN WERE NOT TAKEN FOR SEXUAL GRATIFICATION

- By JOHN SCHEERHOUT

A LONER has been jailed after taking hundreds of pictures of women's bottoms breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Plain clothes officers became suspicious when they spotted Andrew Smoggie, 52, taking pictures of unwitting women at Manchester's Pride festival last year.

When they stopped him, they carried out a check and realised he was subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) which barred him from taking pictures or videos of women he didn't know in a public place.

A court heard the order had been imposed in October 2021 as part of a suspended prison sentence for an offence of 'upskirting! Officers 'observed' Smoggie, who has a history of sex offending, taking a number of photographs of passing women from behind on Peter Street on August 27, 2022, during the Manchester Pride weekend, prosecutor Katherine Wright told Manchester Crown Court.

Smoggie had aimed the camera at their bottoms and the women he was photographing 'were not aware photos were being taken, said Miss Wright.