A 46-YEAR-OLD man who filmed two young women’s legs in a takeaway and stole alcohol from a supermarket has been jailed for four months and put on the Sex Offenders Register.

Neil Marrett took the mobile phone clip of the women in a takeaway in Grouville last summer, the Magistrate’s Court heard yesterday.

Although Marrett was not accused of ‘upskirting’, Advocate Sophie Lister, prosecuting, said the covert filming was invasive and potentially distressing and amounted to ‘behaving in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace’.

Marrett admitted the charge at a previous hearing.

Advocate Lister said of the video clip: ‘This offence was sexually aggravated. He was covertly filming the women’s legs and moved his camera, it appears, to get a better view.

‘There could be no other possible reason for such conduct other than to satisfy some sexual desire or need.’

He was also captured on CCTV on a separate day last year stealing a bottle of Captain Morgan rum and a bottle of Bacardi from an Iceland supermarket in St Clement, which he also previously pleaded guilty to.

Advocate Lister told the court that Marrett had 21 previous convictions, and although several were for theft, he had also served three months in prison in 2013 for filming three teenage French girls in the shower.

Advocate James Bell, defending, said Marrett realised a jail sentence was likely but pointed out that he had pleaded guilty to both offences, and added: ‘Last summer his circumstances were unsettled.

‘He was of no fixed abode, he wasn’t working at the time, and he would be the first to acknowledge that he was drinking too much.’

Of the video clip, he said: ‘The two people who were filmed were young adults, they were fully clothed and they were in a public space.

‘The video was deleted. Mr Marrett said that when he sobered up he got rid of it.’

He argued that Marrett did not need to be included on the Sex Offenders Register.

‘There is a question mark over whether this was sexually motivated. There’s more of a question mark over whether he poses a risk of sexual harm to the public.’

However, Relief Magistrate David Le Cornu said: ‘I do find that this was a sexually-motivated offence. I am satisfied that the offence meets the requirement of the Sex Offenders Register.’

As well as the jail sentence, Marrett was put on the register for five years.

He was also bound over to be of good behaviour for 12 months for the theft of the alcohol, and ordered to pay back £60.98.