Met Police officer posed as pilot to secretly record dozens of naked women

A serving Met Police officer who posed as a pilot to secretly record dozens of naked women, including models at photo shoots has been sent to crown court for sentence.

Det Insp Neil Corbel, 40, previously pleaded guilty to 19 counts of voyeurism - with the intention of getting sexual gratification from looking at the videos shot with a hidden camera.

The offending took place over a three year period between January 2017 and February 2020, Westminster Magistrates Court heard.

The officer, who had been at the scene of the London Bridge terror attack, posed as an airline pilot called ‘Harrison’ online to set up the shoots and 51 videos of women were later found on his computer hard drive.

During the three hour hearing yesterday, many victims told the court of their anger and shock after finding out what the cop had done to them.

He recorded his victims on spy cameras surreptitiously using phone chargers, laptops, an alarm clock, a tissue box, clocks, glasses and even air freshener in various hotels and AirB&B properties.

Court documents reveal the illicit recordings on multiple devices amount to at least five days, 10 hours, 53 minutes and 49 seconds- or nearly 131 hours worth of footage.

Corbel, who worked on the Continuous Policing Improvement Command which trains officers on safeguarding and had served in a counter terror role, is suspended from the Metropolitan Police.

None of the offending took place while he was on duty.

A plea by his lawyer Edward Hendry QC to sentence him at the magistrates court today was rejected.

He told the court the cop has been a sex addict all his life, with an addiction to pornography.

As a teenager he would resort to sex or porn “whenever” something went wrong and that Corbel’s OCD, “workaholism” and sex addiction all drove his behaviour.

Many victims told the court they are suffering from anxiety, flashbacks and have trouble sleeping.

They said they had trusted the cop as he seemed likeable and friendly, but now feel betrayed and struggle to trust others.

Some have stopped modelling and others have cut down their hours, causing them to lose money.

Others said, in light of the murder of Sarah Everard, they struggle to trust police.

One victim told police: “He seemed friendly and I was in real shock when I found out the police wanted to talk to me about him.

“When they told me he was a police officer I was shocked and disgusted. I felt he had abused my trust.

“I felt intimidated, ashamed, vulnerable, angry, gullible and stupid. I felt all the control I had over my body had been ripped away from me.

“I am now worried when I enter a room that there will be hidden cameras everywhere.”

Another victim added: “His behaviour has changed every aspect of my life.

“I now have therapy since I feel paranoid, nervous and jumpy and look for cameras everywhere. I have panic attacks.

“I help women who have encountered monstrous and predatory men. I always tell them to report anything to police.

“How can I tell them to trust police after what he has done?”

A third victim said: “I don’t feel well and have nightmares about it. I spend days not sleeping whenever I think about it.

“I have lost a stone which is 10% of my body weight and have quit modelling. I don’t dare do it and don’t trust photographers any more.”

Another said: “Following Sarah Everard’s murder this feels like a very difficult time to be a woman and now we feel like we cannot turn to the police to protect us.”

Earlier prosecutor Babatunde Alabi told the court: “He recorded 19 women in private, using various devices on at least 21 occasions.

“None of the women consented to being recorded and they were unaware of the recordings.

“Sixteen of the victims were models he had booked for shoots while three were escorts or sex workers who consented to sexual relations with him but did not consent to being recorded.

“Fourteen of the models agreed he could take nude pictures of them but did not agree to open leg shots and did not know videos would be taken.

“He was a serving police officer at the time and posed as an airline pilot called ‘Harrison’, and said he was interested in photography.”

Mr Alabi explained how one of the women worked out his nefarious scheme.

“During the shoot she became suspicious of a digital clock on the defendant’s computer,” he said.

“She felt he was moving her into a position where her genitalia would be exposed to the clock.

“She noted down the branding on the clock and looked it up ... and found it was spyware which could be controlled from a smartphone.

“As soon as she left the address she contacted police.”

In February 2020, police searched Corbel’s home and found a similar clock and a hard drive, with 51 recordings.

The hearing was told people who have admitted voyeurism are normally handed a community order.

But Mr Alabi said the normal guidelines did not apply to the officer.

He said: ‘’The number of victims in this case, the number of recordings, the number and type of devices and the fact some of the models told him not to record them mean this case is not suitable to be dealt with here.

‘’In addition, he continued recording after being told not to, and the fact he recorded some of the models he had some sort of relationship with amounts to domestic abuse.

‘’The length of the offending and the fact he is a police officer also mean this case is not suitable to be dealt with here.’’

There is no suggestion the images or video were viewed by other people and none of the conduct happened while he was on duty.

His lawyer Edward Hendry QC, in a bid to stop the case being sent to Crown Court, said: “There was no breach of trust in the sense that he was on duty when any of this happened.

“There was a breach of trust in the sense that he was a serving police officer, and each victim felt disgusted, manipulated and angry, but that is not the same as commuting these offences while on duty.

“We cannot forget now is a time of profound concern about the police, and some of the victims spoke about Everard in their statements.

“This case is light years away from that.

“For 13 years he did everything he could in one part of his life to uphold the highest standards expected of a police officer.

“This man single-handedly and determinedly investigated a case which he foiled, saving numerous lives.”

But Chief Magistrate Paul Godspring told him: “Your barrister has made powerful remarks on your behalf, but I have to decline jurisdiction.

“I agree with many of the submissions he has made about your addiction, and the fact the court must look at a defendant in the round and not just take one view because you are a serving police officer.

“However, my powers are insufficient. This offending involved substantial planning and considerable deceit involving your new ID and personality as an airline pilot.

“You went to extraordinary lengths to film the women, and there is at least a suggestion you used some of your knowledge of undercover operations from your work as a police officer, in your offending.”

Corbel will be sentenced at a later date which was not set. It was also not decided which court he will be sent to.

He will face misconduct proceedings at a later date.