Wedding gown Peeping Tom fined £50
An art critic who struggles to control his ‘adolescent’ fetish for women wearing bridal gowns ogled an off-duty detective as she tried on a wedding dress, a court heard today (Fri).
Peter Davies, 63, claims he only ‘peeked’ at the victim for a ‘split-second’ in the bridal department of Debenhams on Oxford Street, central London, before she spotted him.
Davies, who received a caution for voyeurism in 2007, managed to escape as the ‘sickened’ woman quickly changed into her normal clothes and tried to follow him.
But security guards detained him the following day when he returned to the same department, which has 360 degree mirrors, and lay in wait again.
‘He says that he enjoys seeing women in their bridal attire,’ said prosecutor Carly Loftus.
She continued: ‘There was a male suspect lurking in the female changing rooms.
‘The victim saw him peeping and quickly got changed and tried to follow the suspect.
‘The following day there was another call from the bridal department, the suspect had returned and was again lurking in the female changing rooms.’
The Met police detective, who cannot be identified, said in a statement:’This was an upsetting incident for me which left me feeling very low at the time when I should have been at my happiest.’
Davies appeared unrepresented as magistrate Andrea Newman described him as a ‘very educated gentleman’ and fined him £50 for one count of observing a person doing a private act.
He was also handed a 24 month community order and must attend 10 days of rehabilitation activities.
He told Westminster Magistrates’ Court: ‘You know, obviously I make an apology and I didn’t mean to cause the trouble that it has.
‘The incident was over in a split-second, I admit that I shouldn’t have done it.
‘It was just a very silly sort of adolescent peek.
‘I have had a stroke since then which is the last thing I need at the moment.’
The freelance art critic continued: ‘I have had many books published on British art, this is the last thing I really wanted to happen.’
Ms Newman said: ‘Obviously we considered this very carefully, we note your remorse and you feel how silly it was and you’re obviously a very educated gentleman with health problems.
‘However we listened to the victim’s statement, and the impact on the victim was actually quite severe.
‘She thought it was a gross violation of her personal liberty and she was vulnerable in the changing room at a time in her life when she was obviously doing something very special.’
She added: ‘Obviously this is an impulse control issue for you.’
Davies, of Glebe Street, Chiswick, west London, must pay £85 prosecution costs and a £30 victim surcharge.
He will attend another hearing to determine whether he will have to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register and be issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order on a date yet to be set.
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