Live Nation executive and 'despicable' voyeur spared jail for taking 50,000 upskirt photos

An executive at the world's largest live entertainment company has been spared jail after admitting to amassing nearly 50,000 upskirt photos of women using a hidden camera.

Andrew Macrae, 43, former vice president of Live Nation Entertainment, pleaded guilty to seven counts of voyeurism for the purposes of sexual gratification and one count of outraging public decency at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court on 10 October 2017 after he secretly photographed women using a pen-shaped camera while travelling into London on the train.

He was also found to have filmed a woman through a window while she was undergoing a waxing session and even installed a camera in the guest bedroom of his home so he could film women who stayed over.

The the married father of one was caught after an off-duty police officer noticed the pen camera protruding from a laptop bag as he placed it between a woman's legs on a platform at London's Clapham Junction station on 19 July 2016.

The 43-year-old admitted he was using the device to record women when the officer confronted him at Waterloo station.

Police then seized a hard drive containing more than 49,000 images of women from his home in Redhill, Surrey, dating back to January 2013. The photos were contained in folders with names such as "Project Voy" and "Train".

In total, he was found to have filmed more than 130 women, two of whom he knew personally and had recorded over a "sustained period of time".

Macrae also filmed himself wearing a pair of underwear he stolen from his neighbour after her entered house using a spare key and took photographs of a female work colleague's underwear laid out on his desk after he took them from her gym bag.

Appearing at Inner London Crown Court, Macrae has now been sentenced to 20 months imprisonment suspended for for two years for his "sophisticated, organised, planned and long-running campaign of voyeurism".

He has also been placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years and ordered him to participate in a 60-day sexual offenders' rehabilitation programme.

Detective inspector Driss Hayoukane, the officer who spotted Macrae's actions on the train, said: "Macrae's despicable actions constituted a gross breach of trust against his victims. As well as members of the public travelling to work, Macrae targeted victims he knew personally, over a sustained period of time, for his own sexual gratification.

"This case demonstrates the vigilance of our officers in preventing criminals whose crimes are of such a gross and deceptive nature."

Live Nation said in a statement "Andrew Macrae was terminated by Live Nation Entertainment in July 2017 following his arrest.

"Live Nation strongly condemns Macrae's acts and is outraged by his offensive and criminal behaviour which has no place at our company, city or the world at large."