[News] Police officer facing jail time after allegedly setting up fake photoshoots in hotel to secretly film models naked

A UK Police officer faces jail for allegedly using spy cameras to film naked models at fake photoshoots he staged while he was off-duty.

Neil Corbel, 40, posed as a pilot on internet sites and gave false details about himself while booking glamour models and escorts, a court heard.

He then invited them to shoots in hotel rooms and rental flats around the UK, hiding devices in various items including tissue boxes, phone chargers, an air freshener and even drinking glasses.

The defendant who is a former counter-terror officer from Hertfordshire has been suspended. He pleaded guilty to 19 voyeurism offences at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday, September 13.

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said Corbel ‘went to quite extraordinary lengths to hide what he was doing’ adding that he may be handed a jail term at his sentencing on October 4

Prosecutors revealed how Corbel set up the devices in ‘strategic places’ to film the women while they were undressing, and ‘manoeuvred’ them during the shoots so he could capture them in positions they had not agreed to.

Police began investigating him over his deeds (which he allegedly had been carrying out for three years) after one woman, who had agreed to pose for nude photos, became suspicious of a digital clock and found a hidden camera.

Images of 51 women were then found on Corbel’s hard drive, and detectives were able to identify 19 other women who would make statements against him.

Prosecutor Babatunde Alabi said: ‘By and large they were all models. Apart from one, who agreed to be videoed, the others did not agree to be videoed.

He told the court se of the victims who were escorts had agreed to have sex with the defendant but not to be filmed. Two of the models were said to have had relationships with the officer.

‘At least two of the models actually expressed concerns about devices which they thought were recording.’

The defence team said reports from a forensic psychologist and an addiction specialist will help them in their mitigation arguments.

 Westminster Magistrates Court could sentence him to jail next month.

The offences were said to not be linked to his work as a police officer and took place across the London, Brighton and Manchester areas between January 2017 and February 2020.

Detective Chief Superintendent Marcus Barnett said: ‘I am truly disappointed in the actions of the officer which are not at all representative of the high values and standards we expect, and I am saddened by the pain and hurt that he has caused.’