David Glover: ‘creep’ photographer who set up hidden cameras to secretly film young models undress jailed

A photographer who set up hidden cameras to film dozens of aspiring young models in changing rooms has been jailed.

David Glover, 48, of Edelweiss View, Tallington, Lincolnshire, created secret recordings of women - some of whom were “completely naked” - and stored them on his computer for “his own sexual gratification”, Peterborough Crown Court heard.

The 48-year-old set up covert cameras in a private area of the studio he hired where clients got changed from their outdoor clothes into what they were wearing for the shoot.

Mr Glover admitted five counts of voyeurism over images of 35 victims identified from footage that was seized and viewed by police, after a woman reported her concerns to officers. But 72 more people in the footage have yet to be identified and police are appealing for them to come forward.

Victim Francesca Rowden, who waived her right to anonymity, said she “felt really sick” when it emerged that Mr Glover had secretly recorded her and it made her “skin crawl” to think that she had trusted him, as he also photographed family events to take photographs of her baby.

Speaking after he was jailed for 20 months at Peterborough Crown Court on Monday (27 March), she said: “To see him, I kind of wanted to be really angry but he just didn’t seem to show any remorse.

“He was just eyes down, even when we were standing up reading our statements and crying he didn’t seem to show any emotion at all. I just think maybe he could have maybe got a bit more.

“I’ve seen how this has affected a lot of the girls. Only being able to give him 20 months is a bit of a kick of the teeth. We need to find the rest of the girls now. If this can get out and we can find those we’ll come down hard on him again.”

Ms Rowden said she has since “stepped back” from the modelling industry, adding: “And I wouldn’t probably get back into it ever today.”

A second woman said in a statement read to the court said she felt “utterly violated” at being filmed in what she thought was a private space, while a third described Mr Glover as “an absolute creep”.

Another victim, breaking down in tears, said: “I thought about how this could affect my career now if they (the images) ever got leaked.”

‘Victims need justice’

Mr Glover was initially charged with voyeurism in respect of four named women and 103 unidentified adult females, but more women came forward after press coverage of court hearings. He could face further court proceedings if some of the 72 women captured in footage that police found on the defendant’s electronic devices come forward.

Thomas Brown, prosecuting, said a further “70 or so” women were in footage that police found on Mr Glover’s electronic devices. These women have not yet been identified, but he could face further proceedings if any of them come forward.

Detective Constable Pete Wise, of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, appealed for anyone who thinks they may be among the 72 unidentified women to come forward. He said: “You need the justice that you deserve, the same as the victims today have got their justice.”

Mr Brown told the court that Mr Glover “produced portfolios of aspirant models involved in the fashion industry” and was “well thought of”. He did not own a photographic studio but would shoot in his own home, as well as sometimes hiring a studio space.

In 2014, he hired a studio space in a Cambridgeshire village to photograph “a model who wished to further her career”. Mr Glover’s ploy was almost uncovered when the woman’s partner attended with her “to hold the bags, so to speak” and he “noticed in the changing room an alarm clock that looked remarkably out of context”. He discovered it was a covert camera and the memory card in it had footage of his partner getting changed.

The woman confronted Mr Glover who claimed the studio proprietor had been “accusing him of taking things from the changing rooms and the camera was a security measure designed to demonstrate that that wasn’t the case”.

The woman accepted the explanation and apology at the time, and did not make a report to police, but later did so in 2019 after she “worried about what happened” and “how far these images had gone”. She had also heard “rumours of the defendant’s behaviour towards clients”, Mr Brown added.

Mr Glover was charged after a police investigation uncovered footage of people in changing rooms, and he later admitted his guilt. He was initially charged with voyeurism in respect of four named women and 103 unidentified adult females, but after press coverage of court hearings, more women came forward and the fifth count – of 103 unidentified women – was amended to a schedule of 31 named women.

Mr Brown added that the 48-year-old “admits by his plea” that he filmed the 35 women for “his own sexual gratification”.

Several women who were victims of the recordings attended court to read their impact statements. Mr Glover did not meet their gaze and instead stared at the floor as he listened from the secure dock.

Mohammed Latif, mitigating, said the defendant was of previous good character and that the “bulk of the victims” were recorded in 2014 to 2016, with one recorded in 2013 and one in 2017. He said: “He feels guilt, shame and disgust at his behaviour”.

Judge Matthew Lowe said Mr Glover turned a hobby into a business after the breakdown of his marriage in 2011 and began work as a professional photographer. He said it was “clearly planned offending” over at least four years, and that some of the women captured in the footage appeared “completely naked”.

Mr Glover was sentenced to 20 months in prison and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register. He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and his electronic devices used in the offending were confiscated.