Accountant jailed after tripping teenage girl in school uniform on train

A former accountant has been jailed after he set down a 17-year-old girl in her school uniform on a train.

Leon Chan, 26, from Sheffield, was traveling on a train to Ashtead, in Surrey, last October when he took pictures up the teenager’s skirt.

Chan, who used to work for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), was previously found to have 1,700 images of women on his phone after being stopped by store detectives at Top Shop’s Oxford Circus flagship store in London in 2019.

Later that year, he was given a suspended sentence and a sexual harm prevention order banning him from having any device that can take photos or videos unless he met certain court conditions.

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During the train journey in October last year, Chan sat down next to the teenager and started staring at her, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Then she got up and went to sit by the train door, but he followed her and crouched on the floor of the car, pretending to rummage through a bag.

Chan then began taking pictures up the teenager’s skirt.

CCTV showed that the light on his camera appeared to be flashing, police said.

The victim then walked away and the defendant followed, crouching down again and holding his phone towards her.

As she turned, she caught him pointing his camera up her skirt.

Chan got off the train at Ashtead before quickly getting back on and continuing his journey.

He was later identified by Sheffield Police and arrested.

Watch: Upskirt case caught on camera prompts police warning

He was jailed for 20 months at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday after being found guilty of recording an image under clothing to observe another without consent and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Chan, who now lives in Sheffield, was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.

Detective Constable Amina Khoyratee of the British Transport Police told reporters after his sentencing that Chan had shown no remorse for what he had done.

She added: “Upskirting is a truly appalling invasion of privacy and I would like to make it absolutely clear that we will always take these reports seriously.

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“Chan is a repeat offender who has shown no remorse throughout our investigation, so it is fortunate that he will now have enough time in prison to reflect on his predatory behaviour.

“This is relatively new legislation, having only been introduced in 2019, but the bespoke powers make it much easier for us to charge suspects for this invasive and disgusting form of sex offences.”

DC Khoyratee urged anyone who is a victim of a sex crime or any other sexual crime to text police on 61016 or call 999 in an emergency.

Watch: UK passes legislation to criminalize ‘upskirting’