A MAN who used his phone to try and record women undressing in a tanning salon also sexually abused two children, a court heard.

Danny-Jay Storey, 37, is alleged to have attempted to film women getting changed in private tanning booths.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard when he was arrested, his phone was found to contain four indecent images of children.

This discovery sparked an investigation which led to two alleged victims coming forward.

They both report they were sexually abused by Storey when they were young girls.

Opening a trial before a jury of 12, Emma Nash, prosecuting, said Storey was initially arrested after a woman reported she had spotted a camera being held over the partition wall of a changing room at a Clacton salon.

Ms Nash said: “She thought it was strange that a camera would be set up there, she thought it was a camera on a Samsung phone, which as we know this defendant had.”

The court heard after the woman reported this to the police, Storey was arrested and told officers he knew they wanted to speak to him.

Police did not find any video of the woman on his phone, but did find “other material that caught their attention”.

The court heard four indecent images of children were found, one of which depicted an unknown child, aged ten to 12, naked and posing.

Read more: 

Ms Nash said: “He was interviewed under caution, he denied knowing they were on his phone or being responsible for putting them there, although he did say that no-one really had access to his phone, which had a pattern lock on it.

“He thought his phone may have been hacked. That proposition has been considered by an expert, who has concluded the possibility of his phone being hacked was negligible.”

Also found were two videos of changing rooms, one showing an unidentified woman undressing.

Storey told the police he “vaguely recalled” the video and said it had been sent to him by someone else.

But Ms Nash said: “You’ll hear evidence the video has no signs of having been received by Mr Storey on WhatsApp or anything similar, in fact the phone evidence will show it was Mr Storey who sent that video to another person.”

The discovery of the indecent images of children led to two alleged victims coming forward.

They reported they were sexually abused by Storey when they were young girls.

A video of the police interview with one victim will be played to the jury, in which she reported she was repeatedly abused by Storey.

Ms Nash said: “The Crown say [the victim] is an honest and reliable witness and you can be sure that what she says is true.

“Mr Storey on the other hand says [the victim] is lying and that none of the sexual abuse occurred at all.”

Storey, of Spenser Way, Jaywick, denies four counts of rape of a child, three counts of assaulting a child by penetration, one count of possessing indecent images of children, two counts of attempted voyeurism and one count voyeurism.

  • The trial continues.