Blackburn school caretaker jailed for watching girls change on CCTV

BLACKBURN SCHOOL CARETAKER JAILED FOR WATCHING GIRLS CHANGE ON CCTV

A perverted school caretaker watched young girls undress on CCTV while they were taking part in a dance show.

Stuart Martin, from Blackburn, worked as a site manager at a school in East Lancashire at the time of the offences.

Martin, 50, watched the girls on the video while they were getting changed between sets during a dance show being held at the school in early 2023.

Preston Crown Court heard the majority of the performers in the show were girls under the age of 16, and the age of the girls Martin watched was between 11 and 14.

He was part of the organisation of the show and agreed with the leader of the dance group that the girls could get changed in the corridor as it would be quicker, but did not disclose that there was a camera in the corridor.

He was caught when the school's IT manager was remotely shutting down the computer terminals in the school.

He saw that one of the terminals was reviewing CCTV of that corridor.

It was observed the CCTV was being fast-forwarded, rewound, and paused for around 20 minutes.

The IT manager informed the school's regional estates manager and the headteacher, with the former arriving at the school at around 5pm that day.

He saw Martin at reception and told him there had been a safeguarding issue, to which Martin replied: 'That's worrying.' Martin was arrested that evening and denied the offence when interviewed the next day.

He claimed he was worried the dance group were causing damage and that's why he checked the CCTV, but said he stopped watching when he realised what was going on.

The judge sentenced Martin to 14 months in prison, imposed a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years, and ordered him to sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years.