Suspended sentence for former executive who filmed up women's skirts
A former executive at an international entertainment company has been spared jail after he admitted filming up women's skirts using a hidden camera.
Andrew Macrae, 43, who was vice-president of ticketing company Live Nation, amassed almost 50,000 images of strangers for his sexual gratification.
It emerged that the married father-of-one had installed a camera in the guest bedroom of his home to film his wife''s friends when they stayed over.
He also filmed through his neighbour's window while she was undergoing a waxing treatment, and secretly entered her house using a spare key to photograph himself in her underwear.
Macrae further revealed he had filmed a colleague during a brief meeting and taken a pair of her underwear from her gym bag and taken pictures of them laid out on his desk.
He admitted seven counts of voyeurism for the purposes of sexual gratification and one count of outraging public decency at a previous hearing, and was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court.
He told officers he was "disgusted" with himself, saying he was under financial pressure and his wife was receiving counselling, while a psychiatrist diagnosed him with traits of Asperger syndrome, an acute reaction to stress and features of sex addiction.
Handing him 20 months imprisonment suspended for two years, Judge Jeremy Donne QC said: "This was undoubtedly a sophisticated, organised, planned and long-running campaign of voyeurism, albeit sporadically.
"These offences are rightly regarded with revulsion by the public in general and women in particular.
"Women will undoubtedly feel a need to be protected from such behaviour by the knowledge that the courts will deal with such offenders severely, and men will thereby be deterred from committing such offences.
"On the other hand, you suffer from an illness that can be treated and you have submitted to treatment."
Macrae was barred from owning any covert recording device and any device capable of storing images unless it was made available on request to the police for the next 10 years.
He was also barred from contacting the three victims named on the indictment or any member of their family, and ordered to pay €115 compensation to one victim.
Macrae's contract with Live Nation was terminated following his arrest and he has been forced to sell his family home.
The company said in a statement: "Andrew Macrae was terminated by Live Nation Entertainment in July 2017 following his arrest.
"Live Nation strongly condemns Macrae''s acts and is outraged by his offensive and criminal behaviour which has no place at our company, city or the world at large."
Detective Inspector Driss Hayoukane, the officer who spotted Macrae's actions on the train, said in a statement: "Macrae's despicable actions constituted a gross breach of trust against his victims.
"As well as members of the public travelling to work, Macrae targeted victims he knew personally, over a sustained period of time, for his own sexual gratification.
"This case demonstrates the vigilance of our officers in preventing criminals whose crimes are of such a gross and deceptive nature."
The judge commended Mr Hayoukane for his actions in detecting criminal activity of this kind and behaving in an exemplary manner when dealing with the case.
A former executive at an international entertainment company is facing jail today after admitting filming up women''s skirts using a hidden camera.
Andrew Macrae, 43, who was previously vice-president of ticketing company Live Nation, amassed almost 50,000 images for his sexual gratification.
He was caught when an off-duty police officer noticed a pen-shaped camera protruding from a laptop bag as he placed it between a woman's legs on a station platform on July 19 last year.
When the officer confronted him on the train from Clapham Junction to Waterloo, Macrae admitted that the pen was indeed a camera.
A search of his home in Redhill, Surrey, found a hard drive containing secretly-taken images dating back to January 2013.
The images were taken on public transport, his home address and at a neighbour's address.
At Inner London Crown Court, Macrae admitted seven counts of voyeurism for the purposes of sexual gratification and one count of outraging public decency at a previous hearing.
His contract with Live Nation was terminated following his arrest.
The company said in a statement: "Andrew Macrae was terminated by Live Nation Entertainment in July 2017 following his arrest.
"Live Nation strongly condemns Macrae''s acts and is outraged by his offensive and criminal behaviour which has no place at our company, city or the world at large."
