Paedophile secretly filmed mum and daughter as they showered and used toilet

18 April 2024 , 07:27

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Scott Barker secretly filmed a mother and her daughter

A paedophile secretly filmed an unsuspecting mother and her little girl as they showered and used the toilet.

"Monster" Scott Barker, 28, from Rock Ferry, Merseyside, used a mobile phone attached to a selfie stick to make secret recording of the girl and her mum through a gap in their bathroom window on at least eight occasions. His sick crimes were uncovered by police when they found a stash of child pornography during a raid on his home on April 18, last year, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Barker appeared at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, taking indecent images of children and possession of prohibited images. "The defendant was arrested at his home following a search warrant, and when the police attended at his address he admitted immediately that he had committed certain offences," prosecutor Ian Criddle said.

"As a result of the warrant, his admissions and his arrest, various items were recovered: a Huawei phone, an SD card, a hard drive and a further phone. It's from that phone that the evidence was initially recovered. It's clear that on at least eight separate occasions the defendant has taken videos of both mother and daughter while they have been in the bathroom...They had left a gap in the window to let the steam out while showering and he had taken the opportunity to film them through the window. There are, in total, five videos of voyeurism of the mother. In respect of the daughter, there were 21 individual recordings. There are 333 images."

Barker was found with four indecent images of children of the most serious category A, two category B, and 333 category C before April 18, 2023. According to the National Crime Agency, it is estimated there are between 680,000 and 830,000 UK based adult offenders who pose varying degrees of risk to children, equivalent to 1.3 per cent to 1.6 per cent of the country's adult population.

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Barker appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on April 17 and pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children (Liverpool Echo)

Prosecutor Criddle said the images were frames of the video that were automatically created by the mobile phone, then added: "(Barker) had taken the videos of the daughter and he sharpened them, made them clearer to view using enhancing software, and he made slow-motion versions of some videos so he could watch them more closely. The remaining indecent images recovered from his phone have either been sent to him or they have been downloaded by him from the internet."

In a victim statement, the mum who was preyed on said: "It was a total shock after seeing the evidence. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. After the detectives left my home, I made my way to my sister's house. On entering my sister's house, she could tell I had been crying. I sobbed as I told her what had happened. When I arrived home, I told my partner everything. I cried for hours, blaming myself for not protecting my child from that monster."

The court heard Barker had previous form having been convicted and had been ordered to sign the sex offenders register in 2017 after being found with 1,595 indecent images of children. David Woods, defending, said: "He was described in court as a monster, and the defendant himself describes himself as 'sick in the mind.'

He realises his behaviour has been depraved and he has had a serious effect on others, and indeed that hit home when he saw just how he had impacted upon (the victims). He's impacted by the fact that he has gone into custody for the first time, which he found very difficult to cope with.

He's a lonely man by nature and has had a number of psychological problems over a number of years, which affected his development. He had a relationship with an adult female for a number of years; that has concluded as a result of these proceedings. Since these matters were brought before the court, he has rarely gone out and has felt difficulty coping with everyday life."

Sentencing, Judge Brian Cummings KC said: "You are still in your 20s and this is already the second occasion you have appeared in the Crown Court in respect of similar offences. The current offences represent a significant escalation in comparison to the conviction in 2017. You plainly have an indecent sexual interest in children and a strong impulse to act on that interest, and I regret I can see no reason to think that your sexual interest will diminish or disappear anything any foreseeable timeframe."

Judge Cummings said Barker had collected "an horrific catalogue of suffering inflicted on babies" for his own sexual gratification, adding: "I do not accept there's anything in your psychological assessment that in any way reduces your responsibility. You knew what you were doing."

He sentenced Barker to two years and eight months in jail and made a life-long sexual harm prevention order and restraining order banning him from approaching the woman and her daughter.

Wesley Holmes