Sex offender caught taking photos of women at Manchester Pride

Manchester's Pride parade returned for the first time since the pandemic

A registered sex offender who is banned from taking pictures of females in public places was caught photographing women at a Pride parade in Manchester.

Andrew Smoggie, 51, was arrested after he was spotted by officers walking with a phone to his ear while the screen was in photo mode at the event on Saturday.

Greater Manchester Police said checks on his phone had uncovered hundreds of photos of women.

He was convicted of breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) on Monday.

Police said undercover officers saw Smoggie, of Thelwall Lane, Warrington, Cheshire, "acting suspiciously around women" on Peter Street at about 14:00 BST.

They then observed him taking a picture of an unknown female.

Many of the pictures found on his phone are believed to have been taken at Pride, the force said.

Previous convictions

The officers immediately challenged him and discovered he was a registered sex offender with an order preventing him from taking pictures of any female not known to him while in a public place.

He was charged with breaching his SHPO and taken into custody.

Smoggie, who also goes by the alias Mackie, was given a SHPO on 22 October 2021 and sentenced to 24 weeks suspended for 24 months for upskirting - taking photos under women's clothes - on 31 July 2020.

An SHPO can require offenders to tell police what devices they own, who they are in contact with, and in exceptional cases, limit where they can go in the community.

Smoggie is due to be sentenced on 19 September at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court.

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