A Redhill man who was caught taking upskirt photographs in an Epsom supermarket has been jailed.

The historic ruling was based on The Voyeurism Act, which came into law in April 2019.

The act makes upskirting a criminal offence in the UK.

Trevor Beasley (51) was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after he was found guilty of upskirting in Epsom in July.

The Redhill man was already the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

He was found guilty on two counts of upskirting, plus two breaches of his SHPO and three counts of making indecent images of children, when he appeared at Guildford Crown Court on Monday (November 25).

Officers arrested Mr Beasley on July 1 after they were called the the Asda supermarket in Epsom.

Surrey Comet: Image: Google MapsImage: Google Maps

Police seized several phones and a black bag from him after his arrest.

On examination, the bag was found to have a small hole in the bottom with Velcro taped on the inside so that he could hide devices inside, police said.

A subsequent search carried out on computers at Mr Beasley’s home revealed that he was in possession of over 250,000 indecent images and videos, the majority of which fell into 'Category A'.

Surrey Police's DC Mia Lombardi, who investigated the case, said:

"Trevor Beasley was swiftly arrested due to the vigilant member of the public who reported his suspicious behaviour.

"His victims were completely unaware of what he was doing, and if the member of the public hadn’t have noticed what he was doing, then we may not have got the result we have today.

"This offence will not be tolerated and we want to encourage victims to report crimes of this nature to us.

"If you see anyone acting suspiciously and are concerned they may be acting in a similar way, please call us so we can prevent other people from having these images taken."

The Voyeurism Act came into law earlier this year and makes upskirting a criminal offence.

It was passed after a campaign for stricter laws preventing upskirting led by Gina Martin, a 27-year-old who was targeted by upskirting at a festival in 2017.

Surrey Police said they encourage victims to report sexual assaults by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency.