Man found guilty of 'up-skirting' women again

Wednesday 23 May 2018

A man who is "addicted to collecting images of women's underwear", which is known as 'up-skirting', has been found guilty of behaving in an indecent manner at St Peters' Post Office, where he was caught using a mirror to look up women's skirts.

Michael Le Billon, 41, has previously been convicted of similar offences, for which he served a 17 month prison sentence. On that occasion he used an iPod to take more than 600 'up-skirt' images of both women's and girl's underwear in Town.

More recently, he pleaded not guilty to a charge of using a mirror to commit an offence on June 17 2017. However, following a trial in Guernsey's Magistrates Court, he was found guilty, and will be sentenced next month.

According to witnesses who appeared before the court, Le Billon was kneeling in front of the card stands inside the post office, behind a woman and her daughter. A witness saw him with his arm outstretched and twisting his body. She noticed that he had a card in the palm of his outstretched hand, and a mirror mostly concealed within that card. He was using that mirror and his kneeling position to gain a view up the woman's skirt.

The witness observed him doing this for around 30 seconds, before Le Billon realised they were stood behind him, at which point he got up and left the shop.

While the woman he had been looking at did not notice at first - the witness spoke to her and post office staff immediately following the event, and despite Le Billon quickly leaving the premises, the woman reported the indicident to Guernsey Police.

Le Billon was arrested the following day after he was identified, and while he did not have a mirror in his possession, a mirror that matched the exact description the witness gave was found in his house during a search. 

While describing his addiction, Le Billon pointed to the fact he was addicted to collecting images, which he could not have done with a mirror, however the prosecution's case was that he would still get "gratification" from seeing.

The defence argued that Le Billon had been in the post office to buy a Father's Day card - the day before the occasion was to be marked. He intended to send the card to his father over social media, however he did not purchase any card during his visit, despite having a card in his hand for some time, which he said he had picked out "incase he could not find a better one".

It was also argued that Le Billon was never kneeling down, and he said the witness must have been mistaken. Le Billon's defence lawyer used his previous convictions to argue that it was possible the witness had recognised him from media coverage of those cases and misunderstood what she saw.

Judge Robey said this account was "not convincing", while the witness gave a "compelling" and "vivid account".

The question was raised as to why a witness who had never met nor heard of Le Billon had "no reason to fabricate her account", and he also pointed to the fact the witness had exactly described the mirror used.

Le Billon has been released on unconditional bail until his sentencing hearing on 14 June. He has been ordered to register with Guernsey Police for the sexual offenders register.