A postman who admitted taking upskirt photographs of women and storing indecent images of children has told police he kept the pictures as 'trophies'. Grant Borroff, 55, was arrested at his home in Colchester, Essex, after police intelligence revealed he had downloaded indecent images of children.
Court Details
Ipswich Crown Court heard that investigators found Borroff had used a camera to photograph children as young as one year old. Prosecutor Godfried Duah said one offence involved Borroff zooming his camera into a child's private parts. He added: 'The defendant had been upskirting young schoolchildren in Colchester. The upskirting images were saved on his phone.'
During police interview, Borroff initially gave 'no comment' answers but later made full admissions. He referred to the images as trophies, which the court heard was an attempt to minimise his actions.
Devices Examined
Devices seized from Borroff contained 66 Category A images, 119 Category B images, and 2,220 Category C images. He admitted three charges of making indecent images of children, three charges of taking indecent images of children, and one charge each of possessing a prohibited image of a child, possessing an extreme pornographic image, and voyeurism.
Defence Arguments
Mitigating, Johan Grefstad said the images did not depict children involved in sexual acts but were 'pictures of children in public settings'. He argued the offending was opportunistic, though Judge Samantha Leigh disagreed, noting planning was involved. Mr Grefstad added: 'What we have is a man of good character. He has a supportive family and has lost his job. In his own words, his life has been cancelled. Obviously, he has brought this on entirely himself.'
Sentence
Judge Leigh ruled a suspended sentence would allow probation to provide rehabilitation. Borroff received a two-year custodial sentence, suspended for 20 months, and must complete an accredited programme and 60 days of rehabilitation activity. He must also undergo a one-year mental health treatment requirement and wear a GPS monitoring tag for six months. He will remain on the sex offenders register for ten years.
