Portsmouth sports coach jailed after filming boys in changing rooms

Terry Neale abused his position of trust "by taking advantage of children on his watch", the National Crime Agency said

A former sports coach who secretly filmed children getting dressed at swimming pools has been jailed.

Terry Neale, 55, from North End, Portsmouth, sent the videos overseas and was later arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

NCA operations manager Danielle Pownall said he "held a position of trust in the community" but "abused it by taking advantage of children on his watch".

He was jailed for three years and six months.

Neale pleaded guilty to voyeurism and possessing and making indecent images of children at Winchester Crown Court.

He also pleaded guilty to arranging the sexual exploitation of a child under 13, while two counts of possessing extreme pornographic images will lie on file.

Videos were taken at swimming pool changing rooms in the Portsmouth area. Neale was employed by a swimming school at the time, the NCA said.

In one he appears to place a bag on a bench and adjust a hidden camera, before talking to naked boys.

Another, from 2013, was of a young boy getting dressed after bathing at his house. Neale is seen speaking with him and providing towels.

'Dehumanising'

NCA investigators have identified all of the children, who have "since been spoken to and safeguarded".

Neale sent the videos to a contact in Australia, a youth football coach he had known for more than 20 years.

The NCA said the recipient was arrested by the Australian Federal Police and jailed for 20 years for child sexual exploitation offences.

Speaking after Neale's sentencing, Ms Pownall said his actions were "for his own sexual gratification, and that of a fellow paedophile on the other side of the world".

In a victim impact statement read before the court, one parent wrote: "All our lives changed the day we found out Terry Neale had chosen to dehumanise our beautiful 12-year-old son and steal his childhood innocence.

"He felt somehow what occurred was in some way his fault."

One victim said: "The knowledge that I was videoed without my permission at such a young age has left me feeling as though a part of myself I never knew is missing.

"I often drift off thinking about what was done to me. I feel angry and helpless because I cannot do anything about the past."