January 2013

Lincolnshire man banned from tanning salons

A man has been banned for life from every tanning salon in England and Wales after he was caught filming a naked woman.

Mark Graves, 48, set up a camcorder to film in the next cubicle at the Tan Express Studio in Boston, Lincolnshire.

Graves, of St Leodegars Close, Wyberton, admitted the voyeurism on 13 November and was jailed for 15 months.

Judge Sean Morris, at Lincoln Crown Court, told him: “This was a deliberate act for your own sexual gratification.”

Andrew Scott, prosecuting, told the court how a female student had completed an eight-minute session in a cubicle at the salon and was getting dressed when she spotted the red light of Graves’ camcorder shining through a gap in the wall.

He said the student finished getting dressed and confronted Graves who had been in an adjoining cubicle.

Graves, a regular customer at the studio, tried to brush off the incident by calling the woman “a weirdo” before walking out and throwing away the camcorder.

The victim complained to police and Graves was identified as the man responsible.

Graves also admitted possession of extreme pornography and three charges of breaching the conditions of a previous sex offenders’ order by failing to notify his movements to police.

October 2012

Police discovered animal porn DVD at sex offender’s home

A man who was made subject to a sexual offences order has gone back before the court after being found with a pornographic DVD in his home.

Police discovered a disc containing clips including one showing a woman engaging in sexual activity with a dog when they searched Mark Graves’ home in St Leodegar’s Close, Wyberton, after he breached his order earlier this year, Boston Magistrates’ Court was told.

Graves was given the order by Lincoln Crown Court in 2009 in connection with making indecent images of children, the bench heard.

On Wednesday, Graves, 48, admitted possessing extreme pornography on March 21 and three other breaches of his order, in that he was away from home for longer than seven days without notifying police, he travelled to Spain without giving formal notification and he failed to turn up for formal registration at the right time.

Mark Holmes, prosecuting, told magistrates: “He is bound to comply with the conditions of the sexual offences order.

“When police investigated (the breaches) they searched his property and found a DVD. One click of the film showed a lady having sex with an animal.

“He should not have been in possession of that material.”

Mitigating, John Storer said all the breaches had been accidental. In the first instance, travel arrangements had caused issues, the second time, he had simply not informed the right person about his trip, and when he failed to give information, he just did it late.

In relation to the DVD, he said it was a promotional item Graves had received in the post.

The solicitor added: “There were 239 DVDs seized by the police and 238 were legal.”

Magistrates committed Graves to Lincoln Crown Court for sentencing.