Girls as young as 14 are victims of upskirting: Scores of teenagers were targeted by perverts attempting to snap a sexual image of them, new figures reveal
- Girls as young as 14 were targeted by those attempting to take a sexual image
- Figures from police show there were 196 allegations of upskirting during 2020
- Offences reported in places such as supermarkets, parks and on public transport
Girls as young as 14 were targets of upskirting last year, figures show.
Scores were targeted by those attempting to take a sexual image of them without consent, according to data from police forces in England and Wales.
The overwhelming majority of incidents involved female victims, although a 16-year-old boy was among the handful of male targets.
Figures from 33 forces found there were 196 allegations of upskirting during 2020, with offences reported to have occurred in places such as supermarkets, parks and on public transport.
Figured from police reveal girls as young as 14 were targets of upskirting last year as campaigner Gina Martin (pictured) said she is ‘disappointed’ by the figures, but not surprised
This was despite restrictions during the early days of the pandemic last year which effectively forced people to stay at home and reduce social contact.
Incidents included a man taking pictures up a 14-year-old girl’s skirt in Cambridgeshire in October.
Gina Martin, who successfully campaigned for a change in the law to make upskirting a specific criminal offence in 2019 after two men took an explicit picture of her at a music festival, said: ‘These numbers show that sexual assault prevails even when society comes to a standstill…
‘Time and time again we are shown that sexual assault is endemic and upskirting is only one part of that.’
Ms Martin added: ‘Upskirting is a covert type of assault that benefits from busy crowds as a distraction, but equally benefits from quiet or private areas where there are a lack of people to witness it, so I’m not surprised at these numbers, but I am disappointed.
Younger people were more likely to be victims, according to the 10 police forces that had age-specific data.
Some 44 of the 96 incidents from those forces involved people aged 10-19, while 26 were aged 20-29.
Three incidents were reported to police involving two female and one male victim in their 60s.
According to the police forces with relevant data, 131 incidents involved female victims and five involved males.
Some 18 allegations resulted in a criminal charge or other action, according to forces with relevant data.