Falkirk pensioner guilty of secretly filming woman in a shopping centre

A Falkirk pensioner could be banned from using a camera - after he admitted filming women from the waist down as he walked around a shopping centre.

67 year-old John Kane sneaked footage of more than 60 people in the Central Retail Park shopping centre, and a nearby Tesco's in July last year.

He has been placed on the sex offenders register and will return to court next month to hear the details of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, likely to include a camera ban.

He also secretly recorded children playing outside a nearby Next store.

Solicitor Martin Morrow, defending, told Falkirk Sheriff Court today/yesterday THURS: "I have to concede that a serious sexual element is a reasonable assessment of the situation here. The emphasis was on people's legs."

The court heard that Kane was caught when he was arrested "in relation to an unrelated matter" -- in fact drink-driving -- and taken to Falkirk Police Station on July 22nd last year (2016).

There he tried to flush a micro-memory card down the loo after saying he needed the toilet.

Police fished it out of the bowl and found it contained 60 short videos, lasting between 50 seconds and three minutes.

Ann Orr, prosecuting, said: "The recordings appeared to be of adult females at various shops in the Central Retail Park. The camera operator has the camera positioned to show the females from the waist down, focusing on their bare legs and zooming in on their bottoms."

The depute fiscal said the memory card also contained three slightly longer videos, each about three minutes, showing children aged between six and 12 playing near the Next and Tesco's stores.

Mrs Orr said: "One child is doing cartwheels, and the camera zooms in on the crotch area."

Mrs Orr said her papers did not disclose whether the children Kane filmed were girls or boys.

Explaing how the memory card was found, she said: "When Mr Kane was in the custody suite he asked to use the toilet. He began acting suspiciously and appeared agitated.

"He was putting his hands in and out of his pockets and the officers thought something was put in the toilet.

"It was recovered and found to be a Micro SD card.

"The accused was also found to have a mini-camera in his possession, and the card fitted the camera."

The memory card was subsequently analysed by Police Scotland's computer unit, and the video footage was found on it.

Iin many of the short films, the camera operator's cream, leather-toecapped trainers and khaki shorts were also in shot.

A search warrant was obtained for Kane's home, and the khaki shorts and distinctive trainers were found in his spare bedroom.

Interviewed by policed, Kane said he'd "had a drink in him" at the time the videos were filmed.

Asked if what he had done had aroused him, he said: "It did at the time, but afterwards I felt ashamed about it."

Kane, of Falkirk, pleaded guilty to breach of the peace.

The videos were shot between July 15th and 22nd last year (2016).

Sheriff Craig Caldwell deferred sentence until April 13th for prosecutors to draft a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, likely to include a camera ban.

He said: "I could draft it myself, but it really should come from the Crown."

Kane was also placed on the Sex Offenders' Register.