August 2023

Pervert used hidden camera to secretly film a sex worker having a session with him

A seedy pervert was rumbled after using a hidden camera to secretly film a sex worker having a session with him at his flat.

Richard Newis, 43, was seen in the secret footage gagging and tying up the woman, which was consensual, but she had no idea the sexual encounter was being filmed.

The 22-year-old woman was only made aware of the footage after police were investigating Newis over another matter.

She had been left “horrified and shocked” when she finally found out about the covert filming

Newis used “significant planning” to make sure that the camera was set up at the best possible angle and was seen making repeated checks and adjustments to the camera.

The face of Newis came into view on a video and the bed could be seen as he set up the recording device on a chest of drawers, or something of similar height, before the sex worker arrived.

A door could be heard opening and Newis got undressed. Images showed the woman come into view and sit naked on the bed.

“Newis ties her wrists and ankles to the bed and blindfolds her,” said David Godfrey, prosecuting at Hull Crown Court.

There was consensual sexual activity and she told him that he could gag her. She was later tied up again before having sex.

Newis later claimed to the police during the interview that the woman knew that he was filming.

However, when he was asked if there was a prior arrangement to be filmed, he replied: “No comment.”

In a separate incident, Newis also set up a camera to film a young girl that he had sexually assaulted.

Another encounter saw him ask a 17-year-old girl, who was working as an escort, to send him sexually explicit pictures of herself.

Newis, who has now moved from Hull, denied a series of sexual offences but he was convicted by a jury after a trial of some of the charges, including sexual assault and two offences of voyeurism.

Newis admitted causing the sexual exploitation of a child and three offences of possessing a total of 24 indecent images of a child.

Mr Godfrey said that a camcorder and tapes were found during a police search of the flat where Newis had been living in December 2018.

In the incident with the 17-year-old girl, she advertised her services as an escort on a website and claimed in the profile that she was aged 22.

Newis did not know that she was under 18 at the time but the girl quickly told him her correct age.

However, Newis was undeterred and asked her to perform sexual acts in exchange for money and to send him explicit pictures and videos.

Mr Godfrey said: “They follow that pattern throughout. It would seem that he was quite infatuated with her and was making lots of offers. It was him asking for these photos and her sending them.”

Newis had a previous conviction for harassment and a caution but he had not been in trouble since 2018.

Judge Kate Rayfield said “You took no responsibility and only saw yourself as a victim.”

Newis, who had been living recently in Rose Hey Lane, Failsworth, Manchester, was jailed for a total of six years and nine months.

A longer sentence was originally announced but it was reduced shortly afterwards after the defence pointed out a mistake that had been made in the court’s calculations for the component parts of it.

Newis will be on extended licence for three years after his release from prison. He was given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and must register as a sex offender indefinitely.