01 January 2024 , 22:57
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Disturbing CCTV captures a pervert filming a 15-year-old girl under a changing room cubicle partition.
Liam Warlow is seen loitering in the unisex changing area as the 15-year-old victim enters a nearby cubicle. The footage then cuts to the moment he sprints away, having been spotted trying to film the girl from the adjoining cubicle at LC 2 water park in Swansea, south Wales.
But Warlow, 27, was spared an immediate jail term after a judge at Swansea Crown Court suspended his six-month term for two years. The defendant pleaded guilty to observing a private act for sexual gratification.
Sentencing on Wednesday, December 20, Judge Geraint Walters said: "You set eyes upon her and at that moment decided to see if you had any opportunity to film her in a state, no doubt, of undress. Your conduct that day has, for a considerable period of time, blighted you. And it will. You will be on the sex offenders register. You've lost your partner, by the looks of it. No doubt in any future relationship you have, you will end up coming under the scrutiny of social services."
Liam Warlow was caught filming a 15-year-old girl under a changing room cubicle partition (CPS)Since then, the Crown Prosecution Service has released the chilling footage of Warlow in the changing room at the popular water park. Wales Online reports Warlow, who had been at the LC 2 with friends and family members, had just got dried and dressed when he saw the victim in the communal part of the changing room.
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He stood around for some time, adjusting his hair in a mirror while the girl was behind him. Judge Walters said it was "perfectly obvious" from the CCTV that Warlow "paid particular attention" to the 15-year-old, who was there with her mother.
After noticing the phone under the partition, the girl kicked it. Warlow was then seen running out of the leisure centre without saying goodbye to his family and friends. Two days after the incident, which took place in 2023, Warlow was arrested at his then-partner's home. He initially told police he had accidentally dropped the phone and that it had "managed to start recording by itself". Judge Walters said: "I would have to be very naïve to accept that proposition, as would a jury, had you tried that one on them."
Warlow, of Cwmrhydyceirw, Swansea, claimed to police that he could not remember the code to access the "private area" of his phone. The judge again said he would have to be "extremely naïve" to accept this. Warlow did provide the code for another part of the phone, which revealed a video he had taken of himself masturbating in what appeared to be a public toilet cubicle on a separate occasion.
The defendant had previous convictions for burglary and cannabis possession, both from 2013. His lawyer Steven Burnell said Warlow's mother was at court to show her support. "Clearly, he is deeply ashamed of what's gone on," Mr Burnell told the court. "Mr Warlow states the impact on the victim must have been horrible."