sneaky snapper | 

Face of pervy photographer convicted of ‘audacious act of voyeurism’

He admitted that he had captured the images over a three month period but maintained he was not a voyeur as there was no sexual motive

Today at 17:43

A Portadown photographer who was convicted of what a judge described as “one of the most audacious acts of voyeurism the court has ever seen” has narrowly escaped going to prison.

Instead of jailing Christopher McSherry, Dep District Judge Gerard Trainor ordered the 35-year-old to complete 200 hours of community service and spend 18 months on probation, citing that he had no relevant record in addition to health and domestic problems.

On the other hand however, the judge said McSherry had subjected multiple women to “intrusion into their lives and their property while they were within their own homes” declaring that “it is, in the view of this court, one of the most audacious acts of voyeurism that the court has ever seen.”

McSherry, of Drumnagoon Meadows, had earlier admitted a charge of unauthorised access to computer material but he denied six counts of voyeurism against two women.

Following a brief contest however, the sneaky creep was convicted of those offences and recounting the facts of the offences at Omagh Magistrates Court last Tuesday, a prosecuting lawyer Tod the court how police attended a report of unauthorised access to computer material on 8 August last year.

The reporting person told them that in 2019, the defendant’s family had discovered images on a tablet that he’d been using.

The images were saved to a Google account in his name and appeared to have been uploaded to the account in May 2018, subsequently being sent to the deleted folder in the account on February 23, 2019, two days after he was made aware the images were discovered.

The images appeared to be of an explicit nature and appeared to have been intercepted from Facebook Messenger without permission, she told the court, adding that there were also images of two unknown women in a state of undress, which appeared to have been captured without consent when the women were within the privacy of their own homes.

On October 18, 2022, McSherry made admissions at interview to the unauthorised access of the computer material and also to capturing the images of the two other women without their consent.

He admitted that he had captured the images over a three month period but maintained he was not a voyeur as there was no sexual motive.

Conceding the offences were serious, defence counsel Barry McKenna said McSherry accepted his offending has had a “material impact” on the victims but that he had been specifically instructed to offer his apologies to them.

Sentencing McSherry, DJ Trainor said despite the “eloquently expressed” apology, it was clear that the defendant was “understating” his involvement and that the period of time over which he retained the images was concerning.

Highlighting that McSherry contested the charges despite “the fact that it was quite obvious you were guilty of them,” the judge told the defendant “it appears that you have not acknowledged the impact of your offending behaviour on females who are not even aware of your presence in and around them.”

In addition to the combination order of probation and community service, McSherry was also made the subject of a five year Sexual Offences Prevention Order which has a number off conditions including that he must reside in an approved address, must not communicate with the victims and must not own or use a device with photographic functions without prior approval.