December 2001 Man filmed young girls PERVERT Christopher Rigby fuelled his sexual fantasies by secretly filming schoolgirls in mini skirts at bus stops and in a Worcester burger bar, a court heard. Armed with a camcorder hidden in a sports bag, he was a frequent visitor at McDonalds in The Tything. But his clandestine film career came to an end after a vigilant mother of a seven-year-old girl spotted a live image on his camera when the bag fell slightly open, James Dunstan, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court. Police arrested Rigby soon afterwards in High Street. He said: “I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m just filming girls in short skirts.” But when his home was searched, police found pornographic pictures which had been downloaded from the internet. Rigby, aged 49, of Lower Chestnut Street, Arboretum, Worcester, admitted committing an act of outraging public decency, possessing an indecent photograph of a child and possessing indecent pseudo photographs of children. Judge David McEvoy QC – who was shown examples of Rigby’s videos in court – made a three-year community rehabilitation order with a condition that Rigby takes part in a sex offenders’ programme. He also ordered him to register as a sex offender. Mr Dunstan said police found 116 indecent images of girls aged between eight and 16, which had been downloaded from the internet. In some cases, he had reconstructed photographs by superimposing the faces of girls. In addition to videos, they found diaries which contained a record of Rigby’s sexual experiences. He was frank about what he had been doing and maintained that the viewing was for him alone. He admitted that he had been filming since 1996, for his own sexual gratification, often waiting near schools. He acted purely as a voyeur to give himself sexual arousal. Submitting several testimonials to the court, defence counsel Adam Western said Rigby was an articulate man of superior intellect and was writing a book. He had been in prison on remand for three months to reflect on his wrongdoing and this had been crushing blow for a man of previous impeccable character. Judge McEvoy said Rigby was not only suffering from multiple sclerosis but had been diagnosed as having a complaint which involved fetishes and voyeurism. “I don’t think you are a danger to young girls,” he added. “If I did, you would be going to prison for a long time.”