Jail for teacher who used ‘spy pens’ to take upskirt photos of school children

15 May 2026 • 10:18 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Jail for teacher who used ‘spy pens’ to take upskirt photos of school children

  • Matthew Gilkes, a former high school teacher, has been jailed for 16 years after taking over a million upskirt images of pupils using secret cameras.
  • He was apprehended in August 2024 after being caught photographing children under cubicles at a leisure centre in Chorley, Lancashire.
  • A search of his home and workplace uncovered over 80 devices, including spy pens and handheld cameras, containing numerous indecent images, many of pupils from his own school.
  • Gilkes also used fake social media accounts to pose as a teenage boy, grooming and manipulating girls into sending indecent images and videos of themselves.
  • He pleaded guilty to various offences, including operating equipment beneath clothing without consent and engaging in sexual communication with a child, and was also given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

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