Aug 10 - Man Jailed For Filming Young Girls In Catalan Bay
A 29-year-old British national, who surreptitiously filmed two 12-year-old girls on his mobile phone in Catalan Bay, was today sentenced to six months in prison at the Supreme Court.
Martin Luke Darnbrook, a resident of La Linea, Spain, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of committing an act outraging public decency in May earlier this year.
Darnbrook was caught by members of the public filming two girls at the beach. He was prevented from deleting the recordings by beachgoers and was subsequently arrested by the Royal Gibraltar Police.
Robert Fischel QC appeared for the Crown, and said 22 videos were found on Darnbrook’s phone, one as long as three minutes. When interviewed by the RGP, Darnbrook said he filmed the videos for his own sexual gratification as he found pre-pubescent girls attractive and he preferred to have the recordings rather than rely on his memory or imagination. Appearing for his client, Jeevan Daswani explained his client has been on anti-anxiety medication from a young age but had been off them for a week when the incident took place, and was suffering from depression and was also taking sedatives.
Mr Daswani said his client was remorseful and had sought counselling while in custody, and had written a letter of apology to the victims and to the community in Gibraltar. Through his lawyer, Darnbrook also expressed his wish to move to the UK once he served his time in prison.
Puisne Judge Karen Ramagge Prescott said that in his police interview, Darnbrook’s “fascination was escalated”, adding that this was not a victimless crime because the girls were unaware they were being filmed.
She said: “Gibraltar is a small community and this could have caused alarm and concern for the young and vulnerable.”
Darnbook was sentenced to nine months in prison but this was reduced to six months for entering an early guilty plea. Time already spent in custody will be taken into consideration.
Darnbrook was also given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for a minimum of five years.
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