SL doctor in London caught secretly filming women in public

10 July 2013 03:59 am Views - 12369

A senior doctor of Sri Lankan origin used his iPhone to secretly film women in public places, including the police officer who arrested him, a medical tribunal heard.

He was arrested by a plain-clothes WPC who noticed he was behaving suspiciously as he sat on the steps of London’s Trafalgar Square.

After he was arrested and the phone was analysed, the officer found out that she was one of his victims.

The 32-year-old doctor, a clinical research fellow at Imperial College London, used his mobile to capture videos of women’s thighs, chests and groin areas as he sat in the bustling square last August.

He sat outside the National Gallery, surrounded by women dressed for the sunny weather in vest tops, skirts and shorts, a hearing was told.

The medic, who is pursuing research into heart conditions, later accepted a police caution for outraging public decency. Giving evidence before a misconduct hearing at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester, PC Tiffany Anderson said she was ‘disgusted and upset’ to realise she had been a victim.

The officer said she had been on duty at the square with two fellow officers at 4.45pm. She first noticed the doctor sitting near her on the steps but he moved to sit closer to a couple sitting a step up from him.

Miss Anderson said: ‘There was a woman with a very short skirt on. The movement to me seemed unusual.

‘He was also shielding his phone. He couldn’t have been shielding it from the sun because there was a lot of shading. He was shielding the screen very closely, so he didn’t want people to see. He didn’t appear to be reading a text message.

‘He appeared to have his phone  to his right, it appeared to be in the direction of the lady in the short skirt. He was sitting two steps in front of me. I caught a glimpse [of his phone] and it was on camera video.’

Lankan doctor, who qualified at the University of Aberdeen in 2005, then made his way to Nelson’s Column where he continued to hold his phone and manoeuvre it around him at waist height. Miss Anderson said: ‘The angle of the iPhone appeared to be waist to chest height. There was one woman in a see-through top doing up her shoelaces and the phone stayed at that level.’

Miss Anderson and the other officers approached the doctor.  Miss Anderson explained she was a police officer and told him she had been watching what he was doing. She said: ‘I believe his words were, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it is the first time”, and “I’m sorry, please don’t arrest me”. I arrested and cautioned him.’

The officer found four videos on the doctor’s phone which confirmed her suspicions. She said: ‘There was one by the fountain of a lady sitting there in a black skirt. Had she uncrossed her legs, it would have been a very clear view of up her skirt.’

Another video was of the women he recorded on the steps –  but Miss Anderson was shocked to find he had also zoomed in on her own legs.

She said: ‘The same film moved on, the phone had gone round to the left filming myself and my legs sitting on the steps behind.

‘I was quite pleased that my jumper and bag were between my legs as I was wearing a short skirt. I was disgusted and upset.

‘I told him, “That’s me”, and I think he said, “I’m sorry, it is the first time.”’

He was not at the misconduct hearing, which continues.(DailyMail)