"Collecting is something my family is very prone to..."

Gilps · April 27, 2006

Is this the least convincing defence ever?

Lawyer 'collected skirt images'

A barrister accused of making indecent images by covertly filming up girls' skirts has denied getting any sexual gratification from his "habit".

Simon Austin Hamilton, 35, of Haringey, north London, told Canterbury Crown Court his pleasure came from collecting and cataloguing the images.

Mr Hamilton denies charges of outraging public decency and possessing indecent images of children.

He said he stopped "upskirting" when he joined the Bar as it was inappropriate.

Mr Hamilton denies six charges of making indecent photographs of a child and two charges of possessing an indecent photo of a child for show, all between January 2002, and July 2003.

He faces a further charge of taking an indecent photograph of a child on 10 September, 2001.

Mr Hamilton told the jury that his actions in filming up skirts had been about getting the image and accumulating a collection.

'Inappropriate habit'

"Collecting is something my family is very prone to. We're collectors of pretty much anything you can imagine," he explained.

He added that he would spend most of his time cataloguing the images as opposed to looking at them.

"It was the sort of gratification of a job well done," he said.

At the time of the offences, Mr Hamilton lived in Bosham, West Sussex, with his fiancée whom he later married.

The court heard that he had started "upskirting" when he worked part-time and had "too much time on his hands".

He said: "In 2001, I came back to the Bar and it was no longer an appropriate or convenient habit to indulge in."

The case continues

April 27, 2006

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