Sex offender allegedly filmed unsuspecting young male at airport toilets
A convicted sex offender allegedly filmed an unsuspecting young male at airport toilets while returning from a family holiday in Cyprus, the High Court heard today.
County Down man Andrew Tinsley could not be charged with any new voyeurism offence because the suspected recording took place abroad, prosecutors disclosed.
The 51-year-old, of Lurgan Road in Dromore, instead faces a single count of breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) by deleting images from his mobile phone.
Details emerged as he was refused bail over the incident last month.
Tinsley is prohibited from erasing photos or footage stored on his device under the terms of a SOPO which remains in force until 2030.
The court heard 83 images and two videos were discovered in the phone’s recycle bin when police carried out checks on July 28.
According to Crown counsel, one of the clips contained evidence of suspected voyeurism.
The device had allegedly been raised over the partition at public toilets to film an unwitting young male in another cubicle.
“A brief view of the recording person was seen at the end of the clip, and it was confirmed to be (Tinsley),” the barrister said.
He was arrested and charged with breaching his SOPO, but released unconditionally for the suspected voyeurism.
“This was due to the incident occurring in Larnaca Airport in Cyprus,” counsel added.
During interviews Tinsley admitted deleting the images and videos, the court heard, telling police about a problem with voyeurism which he had tried not to act on over the past year.
Opposing bail, the prosecutor insisted he poses a risk to others despite the suspected incident taking place outside the jurisdiction.
“It can be assumed that while his family were in the airport awaiting their flight home the applicant was in a public toilet committing offences,” she submitted.
Objecting to those claims being made, defence lawyer Patrick Taylor stressed that Tinsley only faces prosecution for allegedly violating his SOPO.
“He explained that he had deleted these items trying to make space on his phone,” the barrister said.
Mr Justice Scoffield also heard the father-of-three could work with a cognitive behavioural therapist in a bid to manage his “compulsions”.
But denying bail due to the risk of re-offending, the judge cited his previous criminal record for voyeurism offences and the admissions made to police.
He told Tinsley: “Even if I were to impose extremely tight conditions, you are either unwilling or unable to comply with those.”