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Despite growing evidence that upskirting can act as a gateway offence uncovering more serious crimes against women and girls, police forces are failing to make full use of their investigative powers – finds Charles Davey
Misogyny at Charing Cross Police Station, nationwide police failures in responding to group-based sexual exploitation of young White girls, the intimate search of a 15-year-old Black schoolgirl in Hackney by two Metropolitan Police officers (one of them female) and the failure to properly record rapes in hospitals – all of these point to deep, systemic problems in police attitudes toward women and the offences committed against them.
Women make up one third of police officers and 40% of chief constables. In July 2025 the National Police Chiefs’ Council celebrated the role of women in policing. Equal opportunities aside, have there really been any fundamental changes? The police response to upskirting suggests not.
In April 2019 upskirting became illegal in England and Wales pursuant to the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019, in large part due to the campaigning of Gina Martin, a woman who had been targeted at a music festival in 2017 and was shocked to discover that upskirting was not a specific offence. France introduced similar legislation in 2018. On 12 September 2020 security guards at a French supermarket witnessed Dominique Pelicot filming up the skirts of several customers. Pelicot was arrested and inspection of computer equipment seized at his home revealed the true extent of his crimes.
In December 2021 a Crown Prosecution Service press release reported that upskirting prosecutions had more than doubled over the second year of the legislation being in force. Its analysis had found that at least a third of upskirting offenders were also committing other serious sexual crimes. Men prosecuted for upskirting had been simultaneously charged with child abuse, accessing and exchanging indecent images of children, sexual assault and extreme pornography. One married father of two had almost 6,500 upskirting images. Sky News reported in August 2023 that 40% of upskirting victims were children, some girls as young as three years old.
Siobhan Blake, CPS national lead for sexual offence prosecutions, has stated: ‘Not only will the CPS treat your complaint seriously, you may also be helping to protect the public from dangerous sexual predators.’ Just what steps are the police taking?
Upskirting offences are indictable. Section 18 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) provides a power of entry and search after an arrest for an indictable offence if an officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that there is on the premises evidence that relates to that offence, or to some other indictable offence which is connected with or similar to that offence.
Section 8 of PACE provides that an officer can apply to a magistrate for a warrant to enter premises where there are reasonable grounds for believing that a) an indictable offence has been committed; b) there is material on the premises likely to be of substantial value to the investigation of the offence c) the material is likely to be relevant evidence admissible at trial. In R v Faisaltex Ltd v Preston Crown Court [2008] EWHC 2832 (Admin) the court concluded that a computer/hard drive could be seized provided there were reasonable grounds for believing that it contained relevant evidence notwithstanding it might also contain irrelevant evidence.
Freedom of information (FOI) requests to 12 police forces, including the four largest English forces (Metropolitan, West Midlands, Great Manchester and Merseyside), and to British Transport Police are revealing:
The College of Policing states that it ‘exists to support everyone in policing to deliver the best service to the public through high-quality leadership, consistent standards and continual performance improvement’ and that its ambition is ‘for all communities to feel protected, respected and represented by the police force’.
An FOI request should be answered within 20 working days. It took five months. Asked about the years 2023-25, the College had no information about:
What advice or training is given by the College as to searching of other devices and/or homes of those arrested for upskirting? This information was withheld on the grounds that its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection of crime or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, and/or prejudice the commercial interests of the College (s 31(1)(a) and (b) and s 43(2) of the FOIA).
That was surprising given that all 12 forces stated that they held no such documents. One force referred to a document which the College had overlooked, published in July 2024 on its own website: Upskirting – Helping officers and staff to understand the impact of upskirting and how to respond effectively. It states: ‘Officers should consider examining various devices held by the suspect.’ It does not point forces or officers to other guidance. There was no reminder of the powers under PACE, no suggestion that officers should search other devices, no mention of searches of homes and no reference at all to the serious sexual offences which the CPS had highlighted being committed by a substantial proportion of upskirters.
The CPS advised that in 2023 and 2024 respectively 110 and 113 upskirting charges reached a first hearing in the Magistrates’ Courts. It held no specific advice for police forces about the exercise of the above powers and did not maintain a central record of the other sexual offences with which those charged with upskirting were also charged. The CPS guidance Rape and Sexual Offences: Chapter 3 Case Building makes no mention of voyeurism or upskirting. Neither the CPS nor the Home Office had any information as to the numbers arrested in 2023 and 2024 for upskirting, or of the search of homes or other devices.
The Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 is not just a remedy to an unpleasant offence, it is an opportunity, a gateway to unearthing far more serious offences and protecting the vulnerable, who may not know of offences against them or are too afraid to engage with the authorities. The CPS Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2025-30 does not specifically address upskirting, let alone the impediments to arrest caused by the inadequate CCTV coverage on our trains. One can only hope that the strategy’s promises of closer working with the police in relation to VAWG will produce results.
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Charles Davey is at The Barrister Group. He is particularly concerned about the protection of the vulnerable. Charles was junior counsel in Woodcock v Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police [2025] EWCA Civ 13 in which it was held that the police owed no duty to call or text a woman after a neighbour had telephoned 999 to alert police that the suspect they were seeking to detain was waiting for the woman outside her door. She was subjected to a vicious knife attack and was not expected to survive. The Supreme Court has refused permission to appeal.
Misogyny at Charing Cross Police Station, nationwide police failures in responding to group-based sexual exploitation of young White girls, the intimate search of a 15-year-old Black schoolgirl in Hackney by two Metropolitan Police officers (one of them female) and the failure to properly record rapes in hospitals – all of these point to deep, systemic problems in police attitudes toward women and the offences committed against them.
Women make up one third of police officers and 40% of chief constables. In July 2025 the National Police Chiefs’ Council celebrated the role of women in policing. Equal opportunities aside, have there really been any fundamental changes? The police response to upskirting suggests not.
In April 2019 upskirting became illegal in England and Wales pursuant to the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019, in large part due to the campaigning of Gina Martin, a woman who had been targeted at a music festival in 2017 and was shocked to discover that upskirting was not a specific offence. France introduced similar legislation in 2018. On 12 September 2020 security guards at a French supermarket witnessed Dominique Pelicot filming up the skirts of several customers. Pelicot was arrested and inspection of computer equipment seized at his home revealed the true extent of his crimes.
In December 2021 a Crown Prosecution Service press release reported that upskirting prosecutions had more than doubled over the second year of the legislation being in force. Its analysis had found that at least a third of upskirting offenders were also committing other serious sexual crimes. Men prosecuted for upskirting had been simultaneously charged with child abuse, accessing and exchanging indecent images of children, sexual assault and extreme pornography. One married father of two had almost 6,500 upskirting images. Sky News reported in August 2023 that 40% of upskirting victims were children, some girls as young as three years old.
Siobhan Blake, CPS national lead for sexual offence prosecutions, has stated: ‘Not only will the CPS treat your complaint seriously, you may also be helping to protect the public from dangerous sexual predators.’ Just what steps are the police taking?
Upskirting offences are indictable. Section 18 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) provides a power of entry and search after an arrest for an indictable offence if an officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that there is on the premises evidence that relates to that offence, or to some other indictable offence which is connected with or similar to that offence.
Section 8 of PACE provides that an officer can apply to a magistrate for a warrant to enter premises where there are reasonable grounds for believing that a) an indictable offence has been committed; b) there is material on the premises likely to be of substantial value to the investigation of the offence c) the material is likely to be relevant evidence admissible at trial. In R v Faisaltex Ltd v Preston Crown Court [2008] EWHC 2832 (Admin) the court concluded that a computer/hard drive could be seized provided there were reasonable grounds for believing that it contained relevant evidence notwithstanding it might also contain irrelevant evidence.
Freedom of information (FOI) requests to 12 police forces, including the four largest English forces (Metropolitan, West Midlands, Great Manchester and Merseyside), and to British Transport Police are revealing:
The College of Policing states that it ‘exists to support everyone in policing to deliver the best service to the public through high-quality leadership, consistent standards and continual performance improvement’ and that its ambition is ‘for all communities to feel protected, respected and represented by the police force’.
An FOI request should be answered within 20 working days. It took five months. Asked about the years 2023-25, the College had no information about:
What advice or training is given by the College as to searching of other devices and/or homes of those arrested for upskirting? This information was withheld on the grounds that its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection of crime or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, and/or prejudice the commercial interests of the College (s 31(1)(a) and (b) and s 43(2) of the FOIA).
That was surprising given that all 12 forces stated that they held no such documents. One force referred to a document which the College had overlooked, published in July 2024 on its own website: Upskirting – Helping officers and staff to understand the impact of upskirting and how to respond effectively. It states: ‘Officers should consider examining various devices held by the suspect.’ It does not point forces or officers to other guidance. There was no reminder of the powers under PACE, no suggestion that officers should search other devices, no mention of searches of homes and no reference at all to the serious sexual offences which the CPS had highlighted being committed by a substantial proportion of upskirters.
The CPS advised that in 2023 and 2024 respectively 110 and 113 upskirting charges reached a first hearing in the Magistrates’ Courts. It held no specific advice for police forces about the exercise of the above powers and did not maintain a central record of the other sexual offences with which those charged with upskirting were also charged. The CPS guidance Rape and Sexual Offences: Chapter 3 Case Building makes no mention of voyeurism or upskirting. Neither the CPS nor the Home Office had any information as to the numbers arrested in 2023 and 2024 for upskirting, or of the search of homes or other devices.
The Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 is not just a remedy to an unpleasant offence, it is an opportunity, a gateway to unearthing far more serious offences and protecting the vulnerable, who may not know of offences against them or are too afraid to engage with the authorities. The CPS Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2025-30 does not specifically address upskirting, let alone the impediments to arrest caused by the inadequate CCTV coverage on our trains. One can only hope that the strategy’s promises of closer working with the police in relation to VAWG will produce results.
Despite growing evidence that upskirting can act as a gateway offence uncovering more serious crimes against women and girls, police forces are failing to make full use of their investigative powers – finds Charles Davey
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