Predator who tried to film 15-year-old schoolgirl under unisex changing cubicle at Swansea water park is spared jail

This is the disturbing moment a predator tries to film a 15-year-old schoolgirl under the partition of a unisex changing cubicle at a water park.

Liam Warlow is seen on CCTV hanging out in the changing room at LC Swansea water park in South Wales, looking down the corridor as he stands in the doorway of a cubicle.

The video then cuts to the 27-year-old running out of the locker room after trying to film the girl with his phone as she undressed.

Swansea Crown Court heard Warlow was in the changing area after drying off and getting dressed when he saw the girl, who was at the water park with her mother. He then straightened his hair in the mirror while “paying special attention” to the girl standing next to him.

After she enters a booth, Warlow walks into the adjacent booth and tries to film her with his phone.

The predator stands in the doorway of a cubicle

The judge said it was clear Warlow paid ‘particular attention’ to the girl

The girl kicked the phone when she saw it fall under the partition and Warlow quickly ran out of the booth.

After the incident, Warlow was seen running out of the leisure center without saying goodbye to family and friends and he was there. Two days later he was arrested at his then partner’s home.

Judge Geraint Walters said it was “absolutely clear” what Warlow was planning to do at the water park.

“After seeing her, you purposefully and with a fair degree of determination lingered in the dressing area – and at one point also looked at her through a mirror – until she entered a cubicle,” the judge said. “You went into the adjacent booth and while you were there you used your phone to film her. She said the phone was clearly recording and she could see herself on it.”

Warlow, from Cwmrhydyceirw, initially told police he had accidentally dropped his phone, which had ‘managed to start recording on its own’. Judge Walters rejected his claim, saying: ‘I would have to be very naive to accept that proposition, as would a jury, if you had tried that on them.’

After he was arrested, Warlow told police he could not remember the code to access the “private area” of his phone. The judge added that he would have to be “extremely naive” to also accept this claim.

Warlow gave police a code to access another part of his phone, which contained a video he had taken of himself masturbating in what appeared to be a public toilet stall on another occasion.

Warlow’s lawyer told the court: ‘It is clear he is deeply ashamed of what has happened. Mr Warlow states that the impact on the victim must have been devastating.”

Warlow was spared an immediate prison sentence after a judge at Swansea Crown Court suspended his six-month term for two years. The suspect pleaded guilty to observing a private act for sexual gratification. He has previous convictions for burglary and cannabis possession from 2013.

Sentencing on December 20, 2023, Judge Walters said: ‘You saw her and at that moment decided to see if you had the opportunity to film her as she undoubtedly undressed.

The predator grabs his belongings and starts running out of the booth after being caught

Warlow runs out of the booth after the girl kicks the phone he had tried to record her with out of his hand

“Your behavior that day ruined you for quite some time. And it will be.

‘You will end up on the sex offenders register. It looks like you’ve lost your partner. No doubt you will come under the scrutiny of social services in any future relationship you have.”

Judge Walters said the sentencing guidelines led him to suspend a six-month prison sentence for two years after recognizing that “most members of the public would probably expect me to send you to prison today.”

The judge added that Warlow would have to deal with his issues surrounding filming in public for sexual arousal, which would require the defendant to complete a 43-day program.

He must also complete 45 days of ‘general rehabilitation’.

Warlow will be on the sex offenders register and subject to a sexual harm prevention order for seven years.