Footage showing the moment a man attempted to film a 15-year-old girl under a changing room cubicle has been released as he managed to avoided a prison sentence.
Liam Warlow was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on December 20 after footage of the moment was shown.
Warlow, 27, was seen loitering in the unisex changing room at the city’s LC 2 water park as the victim entered a nearby cubicle. He is then seen sprinting away after being spotted trying to film the girl from the adjoining cubicle.
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.
He stood around for some time, adjusting his hair in a mirror while the girl was behind him. Judge Geraint 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, reports WalesOnline.
The judge told Warlow: “Having set eyes upon her, you quite purposefully, and with a fair degree of determination, hung about in the changing area — including viewing her through a mirror at one stage — until she entered a cubicle. You entered the adjoining cubicle, and while there you used your phone to film her. She said the phone was plainly recording and she could see herself on it.”
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 naive to accept that proposition, as would a jury, had you tried that one on them.”
Warlow, of Heol Tir Du in Cwmrhydyceirw, 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 naive” 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 pleaded guilty to observing a private act for sexual gratification. He 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.”
Judge Walters told Warlow: “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.”
The judge acknowledged “most members of the public would probably expect me to send you to prison today” but he said the sentencing guidelines led him to suspend a six-month jail term for two years.
He added that Warlow needed to tackle his issues around filming in public for sexual excitement. The defendant must take a 43-day program to help address this as well as a 45 days of “general” rehabilitation. He will be on the sex offenders register and subject to a sexual harm prevention order for seven years.
